5 Diamonds
by JadedNior5DS
Summary: ***Inspired mostly by Cowboy Bebop & Kill Bill*** Ray Hikari, an assassin turned bounty hunter, searches the galaxy for the members of his squad that tried to kill him. His ultimate goal is to be reunited with the woman he was separated from and exact revenge on his former comrades. He finds himself in a war preceding his birth; one he was destined to be apart of.
1. 5 Diamonds Chapter 1

Ray Hikari turned the corner onto the street where his destination resided. It was lined with nightclubs and bars. On the weekends, the streets would be filled with patrons. Ray made sure he avoided that. The place he was headed to was the bar called "Falling Stars". There was no sign outside that said this. Only a long, banner-like hologram that depicted large gold and white stars falling in the night sky.

Despite its inviting name, this place was a notorious hangout for assassins, bounty hunters, and the targets of the latter. People like Ray. He'd tracked his target back to Earth, and the first place he went was this bar.

He was very familiar with the place. It was a frequent hangout when he settled in the city for a short, but enjoyable amount of time. He had come across it with his once close friends. They wandered into the place completely unaware of its reputation. Within 15 minutes they were all in a brawl. More people died than necessary that night.

It had been some time since he'd been there, but always made it point to visit when he was in town. This time he didn't need to. Making it a point not to stand with his back to the door he looked through the window while he finished his cigarette. It wasn't at all busy, but there were people scattered throughout.

He walked in and crossed the room silently. A dreary old rock song was playing from somewhere. A few heads turned, but no one seemed to recognize him. He spotted his mark sitting by one of the windows with two others. They were all dressed in the same black and gold attire. The two big guys had weapons, axes, by their sides..

There was only one person working at the bar. A good looking blonde woman that looked to be around Ray's age. She looked out of place in the dimly lit bar. Her presence almost brightened it up on its own. After tended to a few other she walked over to Ray; who was at the far end of the U-shaped bar. "Hi. What will you be drinking?" she said to him even though he appeared to be sleep. When he opened his eyes, he was immediately taken in by her icy blue gaze. He sat up. "I'll have whiskey. Straight." She nodded and turned around to make his drink.

She was curvy for her size; Ray liked that. Her bright, gold hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. He couldn't help but think that she was far too beautiful to be in a place like this. Before he realized it, he was pondering how to get his target outside so he wouldn't have to kill anyone in front of her. She sat his drink down in front of him.

"Anything else?"

"No I'm fine for now."

"Alright well it's just me here for now. So if you need anything else don't hesitate to ask."

He nodded. When she walked away he couldn't help but watch. Ray watched her hair play near her lower back as he downed his drink. "Focus" he thought. He peeked over his shoulder at his target. Bottles and cans covered the table. Any type of move he made would more than likely go unnoticed by them. So first, another drink.

The barkeep made her way back to him within a few moments. She took his glass off the bar and out it with the other dirty ones.

"Shit. I didn't ask if you wanted another one. I'm so sorry. Would you like something else?"

"What's your name?" he asked abruptly.

She stared for a moment; clearly caught off guard. Ray expected her reaction.

"It's Claire. Claire Wilde." she said, now she was starting to get nervous.

He sat up straight and extended his hand.

"I'm Ray Hikari."

They shook hands and Claire looked into his eyes for the first time. Pale gray mixed with her ice blue. She felt her temperature rise.

"So can I get you anything else to drink?" She turned away, starting to blush. She couldn't keep looking into his eyes.

"Yeah just give me another whiskey. A double this time."

As she poured his drink he turned to survey his quarry once more. Claire took him in. He as undoubtedly an attractive man. He was muscled, but lean. About six feet tall by her judgment. His jet black hair was mostly pulled back into a ponytail leaving only bangs hanging on either side of his head. The rest was simple. A black t-shirt (that was quite tight on him) under a pure white trench coat. Black fitted jeans to go with his black boots. And she couldn't help but notice the white cloth from the hilt of his katana poking from under his arm.

"You're not from around here are you Ray?"

"Well, I'm from Earth. If that's what you're asking."

"No I mean…I don't know. You look familiar. I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."

Ray grinned and took down his second drink as easily as the first.

"No. I doubt it. I like to stay out of sight. Makes everything easier." he said with a sly tone as he knocked back his drink.

She parted her lips to speak, but was interrupted almost immediately by bottles crashing all over the floor. The sound cut through the silence like a scalpel to flesh. The target in his cohorts clearly needed more to drink.

"Bar Wench! More drinks!"

Claire moved from behind the bar faster than Ray expected. She stormed over to the broken glass on the floor.

"Who are you calling a "wench" you asshole?! You're cleaning this up! Right now! Pick all of this shit up!"

One of his minions jumped up a second later, clearly in a rage. He grabbed the first weapon he could reach. Claire didn't move an inch. Instead she glared at the drunken ogre towering over her.

"I hope you're going to use that axe to clean this stuff up."

Claire was grinning now. Customers have too much to drink and attack her a few times a week. This was why she was fast. It was necessary. And her temper didn't always help the situation.

"You're a stupid bitch. Remember that while your burn in hell."

"I'll see you there. AFTER YOU CLEAN THIS SHIT UP!!!"

Before he could even get into position to attack her, Ray appeared in front of him; cigarette in his mouth. The whole bar was silent. No one saw Ray stand up; let alone cross the room. Claire stared at the emblem on the back of his coat. It was a stylized five point diamond with 5 in the middle. She knew she'd seen it before.

"You ready to die for her?"

"Wouldn't do this if I was you. That's all I'm gonna say."

He reached for his weapon and Ray reached for his. Within a second his opponents head sprayed across the bar, Ray's black pistol pointed where it once was. The headless body dropped to the floor with a loud thud. Slowly, the patrons of the bar started to get up and leave. Now they recognized him.

Ray holstered his gun and turned his attention to his target; Bruno Marko. Bruno is the richest man in the galaxy. He started off small time selling drugs. Within five years he had a stranglehold on every black market dealing, on every planet and it's moons. Now nothing moves without him knowing about it.

Naturally, because of his line of work Ray crossed paths with him more than once. They weren't exactly friends, but nothing made them enemies either. Although once upon a time they got into a fight after Bruno made a sideways comment about Ray's girlfriend at the time. Ray always felt an ominous yet, familiar presence when they met. It made him naturally wary of him.

He took a long drag of his cigarette and started over towards Bruno's table. Claire watched closely. Bruno hadn't moved much. And no one could tell his expression because out the black sunglasses he was wearing. Bruno was the flashy type. He often wore a lot of jewelry and always sunglasses. The kind that cost millions. A grin swept across his face when Ray sat down across from him and lit his own cigarette. He turned to his other bodyguard.

"Instead of ending up like your friend, start cleaning up this mess."

The minion looked at Bruno and he nodded and immediately began to clean. There was a moment of silence between them before either man said anything. Bruno's long, dreadlocked hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and Ray wondered if the gold highlights at the tips were there when he saw him last. His dark, brown skin always reminded him of...

"You sure know how to sober a guy up quickly Ray Hikari."

"Yeah well, try not to be so rude to the pretty bartenders. Your guy there was clearly disrespecting that pretty lady.. Now one of them is painted on the walls. To that end, why I've come to see you. I'm calling in a favor."

"You killed one of my guys for that?" he said in a sarcastic tone.

"I warned him. And even though you somehow missed me on the way in, by then you had to have recognized me. You could have called him off; saved his life. Instead you watched. Perhaps, you thought he would kill me?"

Bruno chuckled.

"I didn't miss anything. I saw you walk in. And I knew you saw me too. What I didn't know is that you were here looking for me. If that was the case you should have just pulled up a chair."

"Then you'll answer my question quickly then. Where's Julius?"

"Julius? What makes you think I know where he is? I don't meddle in assassin affairs."

"I know you two do business in some capacity. And you got really hard to find after his little stunt."

"Honestly Ray, I don't know where Julius is. I still do dealings with him, of course I do. But I get my Angels to do most of my business now. I hardly see anyone I do conduct business with anymore. Aside from phone calls. Besides from what I've heard, no one has really seen him in person since the "break-up.""

Ray scoffed.

"Is that what they're calling it?"

"For the most part."

"And what are they saying who's fault it is?

"Depends on who you're talking to. I've heard a lot of things."

"And what do you believe?"

"The most popular belief is that you, Ray Hikari, are dead. That's what I believed."

Ray put his cigarette out. He was silent for a moment. Taking in the information. Bruno was a better source of information than he thought. He should have come back to Earth sooner.

Ray stared off into space. The cleaning was almost done. Claire was still standing her ground watching them closely with her arms crossed. She likely heard they're entire conversation.

"What about the others?"

"I know Gabriel stays primarily on Neptune. Finding him is an entirely different story. The only concrete information I can give you is that I know Jayzmyne arrived on Mars a few days ago."

"And you know this because?"

"I ran into her at the Port. She was arriving as I was departing. We chatted for a moment. Cute girl. I'm pretty sure she lives on Mars somewhere."

"And Sloane?"

Both of their expressions hardened.

"In the wind."

Ray stared at him for a moment. He didn't know why, but he knew Bruno was lying.

"Claire, is the bar to your liking?"

"I can live with it."

"Bruno, leave. And take the trash with you."

Bruno chuckled and finished his drink that was on the table. He started walking to the door and his cohort followed carrying the headless corpse. Before exiting he door he turned around and said,

"You know if anyone ask.."

"Tell them. Even if they know what's coming, they won't be able to stop me."

After Bruno and his companion disposed of the body they wandered the city looking for another place to drink. They didn't talk, just smoked cigarettes. As they approached a promising watering hole, Bruno's PPC rang. (Personal Palm Computer) He flipped it open and grinned when he saw the face looking back him.

Pale, but healthy skin. Bright, piercing, lightning-yellow eyes. Short and curly jet black hair. This was Sloane Solera.

"Sloane! It's so funny that this is happening right now. Guess who I just saw?"

"I don't know. Something that better be worth you asking me that."

"Ray Hikari just kicked me out of Falling Stars. And killed one of my men."

"I'm on my way. Track him. Make sure he doesn't leave the city."

"And how do you expect me to stop him?"

"I don't care how just do it. I'm coming from Venus. And I need another Capsule."

"It will be ready for you when you get here."

When the door closed Claire let out a huge sigh as Ray stood up and walked past her to the bar. He lit another cigarette and took a long drag. Claire's legs had started to hurt from standing in the same spot for so long. The situation had made her more tense than she realized. She needed a drink.

"How about a shot on the house?"

"I won't say no to that."

She poured them both double shots of whiskey. After throwing them back she poured another round without a word. They clinked glasses and took those down. After a brief moment a silence and Claire lighting her own cigarette, Ray stood up. Claire felt her heart jump.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yeah."

"It's late. Do you have to go far to get to your place?"

"I don't have a place. Not here anyway. I'll probably just...find a hotel to stay at for the night. I don't know."

"Well...since you helped me out, I have an extra room at my condo. I could put you up for the night."

"I wouldn't want to impose."

"No not at all. Besides I could use the company. I never have anyone over. And you kicked everyone out. We're closed."

She smiled. A grin crept across his face. His cigarette almost fell out of his mouth.


	2. 5 Diamonds Chapter 2

In the middle of StatLight City is arguably it's biggest attraction. Stretching the length of almost two football fields was Sakura Park. It consisted only of green grass and cherry blossom trees; with the exception of a few small streams and ponds. During certain times of the year it was truly a sight to see. Around the park were many businesses and restaurants. As well as a few condominiums. One of these, the tallest, was Claire's residence. She lived on the 27th floor of the "Sakura 2"; one of the four surrounding the park.

Her place was very well kept. Everything was in it's place. There was a large U-shaped couch infront of her flat 60in tv hanging on the wall. Under that was her entertainment center filled with movies, books, and magazines. In fact, as he looked around he was beginning to notice there were magazines everywhere; stacked in neat piles all over the house.

She had a beautiful view of the city. One of her walls were just windows overlooking Sakura Park. It looked like a sea of pink and green. The rest of them were covered with huge posters of magazine covers and pictures of friends and family.

He sat down at one end of the couch and waited for Claire to return from her room. Immediately upon entering she took off her coat and dashed off to her room telling him to help himself to anything. He was staring blankly at his sword leaning on the wall infront of him. His mind was exhausted. He could feel it. The room felt like it was beginning to slowly rotate. Clockwise. This happened every now and then. It was from lack of sleep; or at least that's what he thought. But now wasn't the time for that.

Claire returned to the room wearing different clothes, yoga pants and a t-shirt, and went straight to the kitchen and opened the fridge.

"Are you hungry? I could make us something to eat."

"I'm alright. Thank you though."

"When was the last time you ate?"

Silence while he thought. She walked over to him and stood behind the couch over his head. Hair golden locks tickled her face. It was free now.

"You can't be serious. You really don't remember the last time you consumed food?"

"I may have ate on the airship. It was a long flight."

"Where are you coming from?"

"Saturn. Non-stop."

"That's about...5 days right?"

"Six."

Ray reached in his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. His eyes were closed. She wanted to see the grey. Claire moved her hair behind one ear and swallowed hard.

"Do you mind if I smoke?"

"Only if you can answer a question for me."

Claire slowly ran her hands across the top of the couch and gently placed the on the sides of his head. She lowered her head down and whispered in his ear.

"Are you a killer...Ray Hikari?"

His eyes shot open. The question echoed over and over again in his mind; in the voice of two different women. It was all he could hear besides the Claire gently breathing on his ear; waiting for his answer.

"Why do you ask? Are you afraid of me?"

"Do you think I'd be this close if I was?"

"I'm not sure. That was quite the scene at the bar."

"That's exactly my point. Is that what you do? Are you an assassin?"

"Would that qualify me as a killer?"

She stood up and walked around the couch to stand in front of him. He took her moment of frustration to light his cigarette. She stopped and looked at his sword. It looked elegant. And yet, it's only purpose was to take away life.

"Only assassins carry weapons like these."

"That's not true."

"It's not ENTIRELY true I know but I've seen enough of you guys to know bounty hunters favor guns."

"I have a gun. I killed that guy with it. Not the sword."

"That doesn't mean a thing. You don't even carry yourself like a bounty hunter. Spare me the bullshit and answer my question."

"Well...If your definition of a killer is an assassin then I'm not. I used to be though. So where does that leave me?"

"What are you now?"

"Bounty hunter."

Claire rolled her eyes.

Ray took a drag of his cigarette.

"It looks like you don't like my answer."

"I don't. There's no difference. Assassin or bounty hunter, your only function is to take life."

"Bounty hunters don't always kill you know. A lot of bounties require the target to be an turned over alive. That's why we exist. To help the authorities."

"It all sounds good on the outside but you know like I know that the most lucrative bounties come from more dangerous targets. And those are to be killed in order to be collected."

"Alright. There's usually some terrible people on that list though. Most would think the universe would be better off."

"Be that as it may, we are not gods. A life is a life and it isn't ours to take. Let them rot in prison for what they've done."

Claire turned her back and stared out the window with her arms crossed. It was well into the night now. The city was alive with lights. He stared catching himself once again admiring her figure. Claire is a beautiful woman. She seemed upset, and for some reason, he felt compelled to console her. But how could he if he was everything she hated?

She turned her head back towards him. He met her gaze with silence; watching the lights dance in her eyes.

"Tell me, why'd you change sides?"

"Pardon?"

"From what I've heard, bounty hunters and assassins are on the opposite sides of things since they normally target each other. Even though that makes absolutely no sense to me."

"Let me stop you there. Assassins operate under a code. They don't do what they do for material reasons. Assassin prey on others for status. Glory. Power. Control. It's an ongoing battle to see who's the strongest. It has been that way for centuries. Bounty hunters work for money. Cut and dry. Assassins don't respect that. In a way, they value life. Just...like you."

"Stop it. While you've managed to shed some light on it for me, it just brings up more questions. Do you believe all that?"

"To an extent. I was raised that way. I've had that sword over there my entire life."

Claire turned and looked and the weapon leaning on the wall. It looked like it had just been forged and had never seen a battle; cut into flesh.

His katana was obviously made just for him. The jet-black sheath spangled (?) with stars; the same snow white as his coat. The guard of the blade was black. Inside of the circle-shaped guard were five stars arranged in a five-point (find out proper name) diamond. His hilt was wrapped in snow white cloth leaving only small black diamonds in a row to the end. It was a work of art. She could only imagine what the blade looked like.

"So you were raised to be an assassin?"

"Most are. The kind of training they require takes years. The earlier you start the more you can learn and refine."

"Ways to kill people you mean?"

"Amongst other things yes. For instance, when assassins are trained that young its usually in groups. These groups eventually turn into Squads and the people you loathe today."

Her eyes narrowed.

"It that what happened to you?"

The room fell silent. Claire turned to face him. Ray stared; contemplating his answer. He took the last drag from his cigarette then put it out.

"Yes. That's exactly what happened to me."

"So where's your Squad?"

Ray grinned and stood up. He removed his coat and sat in on the couch behind him. Then he took off his fitted black t-shirt. Claire was surprised by two things about his body. The first was how toned he was. Ray appeared to be on the thin side but he was well built. His body reminded her of a soccer player. Capable of quick, precise, and agile movements. The second thing she noticed, and what simply couldn't be ignored, were the several scars over his heart.

The scars were fresh and from deep wounds. There were four, long scars from under his collarbone stretching almost to his waist. Between two of them was another scar. A wide scar from a stab wound appeared to be from a different weapon, but made at the same time as the others. Claire guessed there was an exit wound scar would be on his back. She shuddered at the thought.

Ray was watching her stare; wondering what she was thinking. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts she didn't notice. He spoke and broke her concentration.

"The only family I've ever had tried to kill me. That's what happened to my Squad."

Her eyes slowly made their way back up to his. His face was emotionless.

"What...was your Squad called?"

"We were the 5 "Diamonds"."

Claire's eyes widened and she sat down. Her mind flashed back to the emblem on his coat. She looked like she saw a ghost.

"I've heard stories about that Squad. The people that come to the bar talk about you fairly often. I hear all sorts of things."

Ray moved with such speed she failed to see him even stand up. In what seemed like a split second, he had her pinned against the wall; his sword an arms-length away. His stare was ice cold and she could feel it. Claire's face was inches away from hers. Facing the giant at the bar she felt nothing. Right now, she felt as if Death itself was peering into her soul.

"Have you ever heard anyone say the name Julius Nomura?"

She nodded. Slowly and silently. His grip tightened around her wrist.

"Have you ever seen him?"

"N-no. I have no idea what he looks like. But people talk about him all the time...Even that guy, Bruno, you spoke with. He's been there frequently the past few nights."

His eyes widened slightly then he released her. He turned around and walked across the room and put his hand on his head. Claire watched him as the realization that Bruno lied to his face. And more than that, he didn't notice at all. He wondered is the Intel he got was false, or worse. It was fed to him. Someone wanted him back in the city. But who? And why?

He turned back and started towards his sword, only to be stopped by the windows shattering in an instant. Claire screamed dropped to the floor covered her head and face. Ray jumped across the room and grabbed his sword. He turned and looked to see the culprit standing in the room in front of him.

With the windows being blown out and them being so high up, wind swirled around the apartment. Magazines blew everywhere. The couch was shredded from the glass. It looked like diamonds scattered all over the floor. Ray stood up slowly; staring her down. Waiting for her to move. Sloane's hair whipped around her face as she peered back with her yellow eyes filled with malice.

It had been over a year since he saw her last, the longest he'd ever gone without seeing her. He didn't remember her ever wearing such revealing attire. Her black leather ankle-lenght boots fed her fishnet leggings up her milky legs. The black shorts she wore barely covered her butt. And her white shirt left everything visible just below her breast.

Even with the new wardrobe, he would still recognize her anywhere. She was etched into his DNA they were so close; at a time at least. She still wore her coat, like his, created specifically for him. Her black coat barely qualified as such. The left sleeve stopped just above her shoulder, leaving her almost completely tattooed arm visible. With the other sleeve ending in a cuff, the front only went as far as her waist (leaving room for pockets). The back split into two separate trails ended at her calves.

Not that long ago they were the inseparable. Now, he could tell by the fire in her eyes she was there to kill him.


	3. 5 Diamonds Chapter 3

It was silent between the three of them. Sloane's stare said 1000 words. Claire stood up slowly, she didn't want to move too suddenly; afraid of what she might do. Sloane's anger saturated the atmosphere. The bloodlust was almost tangible.

Claire stepped on a peice of glass and her eyes moved from Ray for the first time. In that second, appeared Ray between them. Sloane hadn't moved an inch, but her eyes widened for a moment.

"Who is she?" Sloane demanded. Her tone was acid.

"Someone who can't defend themself. Not from you. Sloane, let's do this somewhere else. How did you even find me when I've been looking for you all this time?"

"Bruno told me he saw you here with some whore. If you were looking for me you must not have been trying that hard. I wasn't hiding."

Ray raised an eyebrow. He believed her. But that didn't make sense.

"And why are you dealing with Bruno?..."

"To numb the pain you've caused me Ray Hikari. I suffer every single day because of you."

Guilt washed over him like a tidal wave. He could feel the pain in her voice. Sloane's suffering was shared by the two of them.

Claire watched as Ray's demeanor softened from her words; her presence. This woman clearly meant more of a threat than Bruno and his cohorts. Sloane absolutely terrified her. And yet, with the way he looked now, if Sloane moved to attack she wasn't sure he'd defend himself. Sloane didn't appear to have any weapons other than the pistol on her hip. It was about as big as Ray's. A belt was loose around her waist and the heavy firearm was almost at her thigh. Claire was sure there was more to this picture.

"You still haven't answered my question Ray. Who. Is. She? Don't tell me you've given up. Never did I think you would actually let Julius have Maria. Not while you drew breath."

"Her name is Claire. She's not one of us. That's really all I can tell you. I just met her today. Where I tracked Bruno to. Our bar."

"You just met him today and you already let him into your home? Are you stupid are did you just want to fuck him that badly?"

Claire was caught off guard by her accusation. She stepped forward to speak until Ray quickly extended his arm infront of her. Sloane was playing a game. He wasn't going to let Claire get caught up in it.

"I haven't given up on anything. Where's Julius?"

A twisted smirk crept across her face. She reached into one of her pockets and removed skin tight black gloves. As she put them on she looked past Ray at Claire.

"Claire before I kill you I just want you to know, that if you were expecting things to go somewhere with him you were terribly mistaken. His heart still belongs to another woman...And mine to him..."

By the end of the sentence she was 2 feet infront of Ray. He drew his sword just in time to stop her clawed hand. Her palm colliding with the blade rang loud through the apartment like steel on steel. Ray quickly parried her attack, but before he could take another move Sloane vanished. Ray sucked his teeth.

"Claire! Get to your room NOW! And don't come out until you hear me say its safe!"

Claire turned and started towards the hallway only to be stopped a second later by the barrel of Sloane's magnum. Her stare was ice cold as she pulled back the hammer. Claire couldn't move. She forced her eyes closed and waited for the end.

It sounded as if a grenade with off in the hallway, then nothing. Darkness. Her eyes slowly opened. She was on the floor now. Sloane was standing further down the hallway infront of her bedroom door. Her gun was back in its holster. She was staring at Ray who was standing infront of her now. Suddenly Claire noticed the small puddle of blood infront of her face. She could hear the drops hitting the floor, falling from Ray's fingers tips. The bullet removed flesh from his shoulder. He barely got out of the way.

"Claire has nothing to do with this Sloane! Leave her out of it!"

Her eyes narrowed. His protest was like gas to her fire.

"Look at you. Pleading for her life. Your making her apart of this! You pathetic!!"

Sloane swung her hand a fierce wind tore through the hallway. Ray knew what this was. He pushed Claire into the room behind him and outstretched his arms. The wind tore up his skins like a 1000 tiny razor blades. He dropped down to his knees, gasping for air. He hadn't experienced pain like this in some time. Even though he had faced this same attack before, nothing could prepare him for that pain.

She grabbed his hair and threw him onto his back. Every pore on his body burned like fire. If this was her holding back, he really needed to take this encounter elsewhere. Last thing he wanted was to completely destroy Claire's home. (Although he could easily afford to move her elsewhere. Somehow, he suspected she could too.)

Sloane sat down on Ray's crotch. It was a familiar place for her. Before he could do anything she had the barrel of her gun right between his eyes.

"Let go of your sword or I will end you."

He believed her. He reluctantly released his hold on his weapon. She threw it into the living room where it stuck into the wall on the other side of the apartment. His gun followed suit. After putting hers back on its holster she slowly started to removed her gloves. Her gaze was fixed on his face, which her attack left relatively unharmed.

Ray stared back at her. His emotions were scattered; and he wasn't sure what she was going to do next. As he peered into her eyes, he knew she missed him as much he did her.

She slowly, gently, caressed his cheek with her tattooed hand; wiping drops of blood from his cheek. The burn subsided almost immediately. Now, his body felt electrified from her touch.

"Sloane...We don't have to do this. Just tell me where Julius is." He pleaded.

"So you can kill him and save her? We all tried to kill you that day. It wasn't just him. We all had our reasons. You know that." Her tone was almost comforting.

"And that's exactly why I'm going to bury all of you myself."

An evil grin crept across her face. She leaned over placing her body perfectly against his. Both of their temperatures were rising by the second. Sloane slowly moved in, as if for a kiss, and spoke softly against his lips.

"And will you be able to take my life, my love?"

His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar sound. The clicking of the hammer slowly being pulled back on his gun. Claire stood at the end of the hallway with Ray's pistol aimed at Sloane. The second her eyes moved from his, he could no longer guarantee Claire would live through this. In the blink of an eye, Sloane vanished.

Never before had Claire held a gun, let alone fired one. She felt the recoil resonate through her entire body. When she regained her focus neither of them were in sight. As she spun around to look behind her, both appeared at once; in midair.

Sloane quickly whipped her body around to kick Ray. He blocked, then parried her attack and threw her to the other side if the apartment into the door. He'd hoped she went through it. Instead she contorted her body again to brace herself with her arm. Sloane could move her body in ways even world-class gymnast would envy.

She looked up to see him holding his sword once more. It shone brightly in the moonlight coming through the shattered window. Sloane knew he would no longer be solely on the defensive.

"So that's all I had to do? Attack her?"

"For the last time, Claire has nothing to do with this. I'm putting an end to this right now."

"Before I kill you, I'm going to rip her heart out with these hands, and show it to you. Then we'll see how much she has to do with this."

Claire watched in awe as they both vanished and appeared again in the center of the room. Ray swung his blade with both hands at Sloane with blazing speed. She blocked his attack with one of her gloved hands. The sound of steel on steel wailed. She knew she couldn't hold him back for long. She parried his attack with the back of her other hand.

Their eyes met through the sparks between them the exchange created. For a moment, her gold mixed with his grey. He thought he could see tears welling in her eyes.

Ray attacked again with the same amazing speed. Sloane evaded his attack effortlessly and wasted no time going for the kill. She advanced on him with her clawed hand pulled back to strike. Her attack, aimed directly at Ray's heart, only hit thin air. However, the sound of the wall blowing out behind where he stood sounded like an explosion.

Claire looked on in awe as her window and debris from her wall flew out into the streets below. Just what type of person had she invited onto her home?

Ray quickly grabbed Sloane's wrist with his free hand and pulled her towards him and kneed her in the stomach before she could react. Then, in the same motion, spun her around and

tossed her out of the 23rd floor window. And before Claire could even scream, Ray jumped out after her.

She got to the window in time to see Ray, by Claire's perception of it, teleport from where he was to where Sloane was in the air. There was a quick flurry of attacks and sparks that ended in them in deadlock with only moments before they were about to land in the middle of traffic.

Sloane pulled his face as close to hers as she could and grinned.

"This isn't over Ray. I will kill you. And I'm going to make your girlfriend watch!"

In one move she removed Ray's hold on her and kicked her towards the ground; at the same time propelling her lightweight body further up in the air.

Ray flipped several times to land on his feet ontop of a parked car, completely destroying it. The hood pushed down into the cabin, spraying glass everywhere. People all over the streets screamed and cleared the scene as he slowly stood up. The dramatic landing didn't faze him at all.

Ray looked up just in time to see Sloane claw the air once more from above. Her deadly gale descended upon him with deadly speed, tearing into the buildings on either side of the street. Ray held his sword out behind him and braced himself. Then, in one powerful swing, he slashed her sharpened gales. The force from her attack pushed Ray's feet into the concrete but he remained unscathed. The ground around him was torn to pieces from the negated winds. As the crowd started to emerge and the police started to arrive, Ray was peering up into the sky. Sloane was gone. She would probably never attack from that far away other than to escape.

Claire, who watched this unfold from the new addition to her home, was still barely able to wrap her head around the everything. She went from having a quiet conversation to having a gun aimed at her head within 5 minutes. Neither Ray or Sloane appeared to be human while they were fighting. Working where she did, Claire saw some pretty vicious and skilled fighters. However, the abilities that were just displayed were that of fantasy and films; or so she thought.

She had no idea what she would be getting herself into, but as Ray turned his head and peered up at her from the streets, Claire knew without any doubts, it was his side she never wanted to leave.


	4. 5 Diamonds Chapter 4

Around the year 2100, it became clear to scientist across world that Earth would no longer be a suitable home for humanity. The planets population was now closing in on an overwhelming 13 billion. The world's resources were diminishing at a pace mother Earth simply couldn't keep up with; even with the assistance of all our great technology. There was simply not enough space. And our way of life was wreaking havoc on the already marred atmosphere of our home. Within 50 years Earth would no longer be inhabitable. In our arrogance, we already past a point to heal our planet, we had no choice but to leave her to lick her own wounds. So what would we do? Where would 13 billion of us go? Humanity looked to the stars to guide us, as we always have, for we would have to rise to the occasion and survive once more.

Facing the extinction of everything as we knew it, the greatest minds on Earth gathered and schemed. After a six months of non-stop planning and calculations, they devised a plan. Over the past 75 years the scientist and astronauts of the United Nations conducted experiments on the Moon, Mars, and it's moon Phobos to change their atmospheres. Through this, scientist hoped to eventually sustain life and make these distant worlds places to live for humankind. This research, fast-forwarded by the new deadline, yielded the invention of the Weather Core.

Drilling deep into the cores neighbors of our galaxy, we were able to control the planets rotation, thus controlling it's weather. From the most bitter cold, to torrential rains, and the most harsh heat imaginable. Scientist were able to completely change the atmosphere and geosphere of these planets at a rate that took millions of years on Earth. Before long a man could land on Mars, remove his helmet, and breathe clean air. We left Earth in an exodus until she was well enough to host us once more.

By 2367, most of the planets in the Milky Way galaxy (and almost 2/3's of their moons) were inhabited by the human race. All of these places took on identities of their own, each becoming a parallel of the Earth we once knew. Humanity United in the Cosmos, or the HUC, became the major governing body in the universe; a group made up of the most brilliant scientist and leaders from every nation from Earth. From their headquarters on Venus they moderate the politics of the galaxy. A representative from the HUC is elected once every three years by the citizens of each planet or moon to act as it's Ambassador. The HUC decided, after years of intense debate between scientist, not to use the Weather Core technology on our home planet. Mother Earth had achieved perfection on her own just as she did before. Science showed that the Earth would heal much faster without a single human soul sucking from her teat. We would wait it out in the cosmos on our new homes. It wasn't until 2710 that the Earth became able to sustain life again. Humanity wouldn't make it's return until around 2800.

Soon after we began to colonize our neighbors, dissent began across the galaxy. Once completely separated cultures, ideas, and laws were now being forced under one umbrella of the HUC. A large part of the population thought there was simply too much going on in our galaxy for one body of government to handle; that each planet should be governed by it's people. Of course this was unpopular with the HUC. It didn't take long for the people to become violent. Resistance grew at an alarming rate all over the galaxy. Within a year small militias sprang up everywhere. They began to carry out attacks on people and properties of the HUC. With it being the start of a new era, the Humanity United in the Cosmos was formed without any type of military force, thinking it wouldn't be necessary. Their naivety would cost nearly them the lives of 76 of their members before action was taken.

The opposition to the HUC began to organize and scheme collectively and formed a organization. They called themselves Lumiere, or Light, because they thought of themselves to be shedding light on the rest of humanity. Assassinations became a common thing. The leader of Titan and his staff were attacked and beheaded on live television. The HUC was trembling in fear and it looked like the balance was shifting in the universe. Then, their saviors arrived.

Turning to science as they always have, the HUC created ten "Knights". The best, brightest, and strongest soldiers from every corner of our former home. Using technology only dreamed of, these mechanically enhanced soldiers were made into the perfect squad to defend the HUC, and the universe, against the terrors of Lumiere. By then, they were believed to have well over 10,000 members throughout the universe and it grew everyday. They were split into groups of two and sent out into the galaxy with one mission: eradicate Lumiere's existence from the universe and restore HUC's control. With that, war began.

Lumiere's assassins were deadly to say the least. Using altered ways of training from centuries ago, they became almost super human through their discipline. Mastering weapons and techniques and spreading them across the cosmos created some of the best warriors the universe had ever seen. The HUC had no choice but to play their game. The Ambassador of Mercury was attacked by a group from Lumiere as he was heading to Venus. Little did they know, two of the Celestial Knights were with him. They 15 man unit was destroyed within minutes by the Knights. From there, they began to mercilessly hunt Lumiere's members. Vicious battles sprang up all over the universe.

In less than five years, the Knights had wiped out over two thirds of Lumiere's known members. The assassinations had completely stopped and Lumiere was reeling. No one could stand up to the force of the Celestial Knights and it was clear the HUC had regained it's control over the universe. In one last effort to free themselves from the HUC, Lumiere's remaining members attacked their HQ on Venus. All ten Celestial Knights were called to defend against the attack. The resulting battle lasted more than a week. Lumiere lost most of it's remaining forces. Who wasn't killed, escaped. The Celestial Knights suffered no casualties. Humanity United in the Cosmos once again ruled unopposed. They created the Bounty system, allowing citizens of the planet to hunt the remaining members of Lumiere for a hefty reward. Aside from law enforcement in cities, The Celestial Knights remain the only kind of military force in the universe. Lumiere was decimated. Only it's leaders, founders remained. They retreated to the dark corners of the cosmos to recover and plot once again on how to take down the oppressors of galaxy. They HUC have governed (for the most part) quietly since the late 2600's to the 2900's when Lumiere made it's next move.

Sloane's eyes suddenly opened. The room was mostly dark, she could only see the time projected onto the ceiling of her room. It was almost 2pm. The room was destroyed. Not a single piece of furniture was in one piece; Sloane herself was curled up on a couch cushion. She sat up slowly and it felt as if the room moved with her. Her left hand felt around on the floor next to her. Broken glass, loose paper, her pack of cigarettes. Luckily her lighter was also inside. The fire made her notice the mirror across the room to her left in her peripheral. Her glowing green eyes and the cherry of the cigarette was all she could see. Feeling around on her right side she found what she had been looking for the first time, her PPC. (Personal Planetary Communicator.)

Thirteen missed notifications. She only wanted to talk to one person. Sloane slowly stood up as she waited for an answer. After staggering to the bathroom and flipping on the light she realized she was only wearing a tank-top and her panties. She couldn't remember getting undressed. As she examined her body for any anomalies it became hard to ignore how puffy her eyes were. No matter how bright they shone, it was painfully obviously that she had been crying for hours. The redness on her caramel colored skin was also a dead giveaway. Sloane hated that.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to call me..."

It sounded as if Bruno was grinning already.

"Are you still on Earth?" She said with a dry voice. Another obvious giveaway. Sloane quickly took a drink from the faucet.

"I'll do you one better. I'm still in the city. I assume you are as well?"

"I'm at the Sanctuary near the Port. I think." She said in a groggy tone.

Bruno sighed. She looked out the bathroom window. The view of the city was ideal for her line of work. The building where Claire lived was still in perfect view.

"So?..." He said impatiently waiting for confirmation.

"Yeah...I'm here. Just ask for my room number."

"It's a Sanctuary. They're not gonna tell me what room your in you know that."

"Just do what I said Bruno. And hurry up."

She hung up and stared out the window at Claire's apartment building, replaying the nights events in her mind. Her heart started to race, blood began to boil all over again. Then, without warning, tears started to fill her eyes. Sloane dialed the number to the front desk.

"Yes Ms. Solera?" the desk clerk answered almost immediately.

"I'm going to need a new room. Higher up."

"Um. I'm sorry Ms. Solera but we just gave that room to someone else. And it's the only one. Is there something wrong with the one your currently in? Perhaps we could-"

"I destroyed it. I don't care who you gave the room to. I'll be up there in 15 minutes. Call whoever it is and tell them to leave or I will kill them. Do you understand?" She said in an ice cold tone.

"Yes Ms. Solera. Is there anything else?"

"Yeah...I'm expecting a visitor. Send them up."

"As you wish."

Sloane continued to stare out the window after she hung up. She could see the whole in the side of the building she made.

Bruno didn't arrive for another two hours. This gave Sloane more than enough time to settle into her new quarters. After the Lumiere Uprising, assassins were granted certain "rights". One of these were the Sanctuaries. Giant white towers scattered all over every inhabited rock in the galaxy. These towers acted as safe havens for assassins that belonged to Lumiere. Sanctuaries provided rooms, food, medical services, and whatever else an assassin might need; funded by Lumiere. No HUC member, including the Celestial Knights, or any other law enforcement body were allowed within their walls. And, unless otherwise requested, it was illegal for anyone at the Sanctuary to tell anyone that your staying there; under any circumstance. Violation resulted in immediate death.

Sloane was standing on the balcony when Bruno walked into her suite. She was sitting on the railing looking out at the city while smoking a cigarette. He sat down in the living room and took off his jacket and waited for her to come in to see his wares. An injection gun slightly bigger than her fist and several vials of glowing, multi-colored liquid sit on the table in front of Bruno. Their size ranged from 10 to 50 cc's; the contents mimicked lava lamps from centuries ago. She picked up the largest on the table filled with glowing, neon blue speckled with dark orange spots. Bruno watched her closely from behind his sunglasses as she held it up to her face. Her expression confirmed his suspicions from her phone call.

"They're all very pretty..." She said in uninterested tone. "You didn't have any of these before did you?"

"No. You know I like to keep a fresh rotation. All the 30's are new strains, the 10's are old favorites, and the 50's are experiments. We're trying new things out. I'm beginning to learn you Gaia users are kinda picky."

She rolled her eyes and picked up another from the table. Gaia, the fluorescent drug that filled the glass containers, was Sloane's drug of choice. When Bruno began his takeover of every black market in the galaxy, he started with the drug trade first. He's learned through his time in Lumiere, their leaders were often easily intimidated. The first boss he approached was a woman named Megara Mulara. She was the first person distribute Gaia in the galaxy after being the only person on Earth to sell and produce it. Megara claimed it made you feel one with the Earth, no matter where you were in the galaxy. It wasn't entirely untrue. However, it was highly addictive and had severe detriments on the body. Addicts died within weeks of getting hooked all the time. Bruno, having used the drug on occasion himself, saw much more potential in this market than Megara was taking advantage of. After finding out of her dwindling interest in the drug trade, he made her an offer she couldn't refuse. Now she worked out of a hidden lab on Mercury with her own team and the best equipment technology could offer. Her only job: produce Gaia for Bruno.

After carefully making her choice, an electric-yellow swirled with crimson 30cc vial, she reached under the table grabbed a silver box full of cartridges and her own injection gun. She started to empty the vial into a cartridge.

"You usually have a lot more questions." Bruno said tentatively.

"I'm not really in a good mood. I'm pretty sure you know that."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about." She said sharply.

He scoffed.

"You just tried to kill your ex, a man who was thought to be dead. By your hand no less, at least partially. And after all this time you find him with yet another woman-"

Bruno's sentence was interrupted by the sound of the hammer of Sloane's gun pulling back inched away from his face. He couldn't help but grin.

"I know where Mulara is Bruno. I will blow that stupid ass grin off your face right now."

"Look at how wound up you are. That's why you need to talk about it."

Sloane took in her reflection in his sunglasses and was reminded of her telling appearance. She growled and walked over to the window. The gun was still in her hand and she leaned on the glass with her forehead. Bruno's eyes oscillated from her butt and the gun swaying by her side.

"I have a question. I didn't cross swords with him, but he definitely seems different from when I saw him last years ago. Stronger definitely. And it was my understanding that his abilities rivaled Julius' in the first place. So...what I'm asking is, did you really think he was dead?"

Sloane continued to stare blankly out the window replaying the events in her mind. Before she knew it, tears were streaming from her eyes once again. There was no way she way turning around now.

"I...I don't know. I guess part of me always hoped he was still alive somehow. I watched him bleed out on the floor Bruno. There was no way...And yet hearing he was alive made me so angry...I don't remember how I got to that apartment building yesterday. I can't even recall coming back honestly. From the moment you sent me that picture...everything has been in pieces..."

Sloane sat down on the floor and put her back against the glass. Bruno watched her sob with her hand still clutching a loaded gun pressed against the side of her head. He got up and took off his jacket and sat down next to her. He didn't say a word, instead, he sat her injection gun down in front of her. Sloane looked up at the ceiling through her tears. She couldn't help but think about the last time something made her this upset. The moment she returned to her room all those years ago the first thing she saw was a picture of Ray holding her next to her bed. Her body felt as cold as it did then.

"I just want the pain to stop...I've been hurting for so long. And nothing I do, nothing, seems to make it stop. Meanwhile, that bastard is parading around with a new whore. I swear I'm going to- I can't-"

She started to scream at the top of her lungs. Bruno quickly grabbed the gun from her and wrapped her arms around her. Sloane cried harder and screamed more. She tried to free herself from his embrace, but he wouldn't let go until she calmed down. Instead he said to her softly,

"Just let it all go...I'm here..."

They sat by the window for three hours before she fell asleep with her face buried in his chest. Bruno then carried her to her bed so she would be comfortable.

At the edge of the Milky Way galaxy Pluto, the once exiled planet, slowly orbits its siblings. With an axial tilt of 120 degrees, the sun invariably shines on a quarter of the planet's surface, while another quarter is shrouded in eternal darkness. A few miles from the Division of Night lie the capital city Phrost.

Pluto was not a desirable place to live for most people. The majority of it's population was made up of it's natives; unlike other planets in the galaxy that were well assimilated with interplanetary emigrants. Distinguishing between the two wasn't difficult anywhere you visited. Soon after humanity made it's home on Mars, after spending as little as 6 months on the planet's surface their hair and eyes began to change. Earthlings born with any hair color slowly began to change to a deep crimson. Newborn children were born with hair and eyes of the same color. Research found water vapor in air was the culprit. One of the many functions of the Weather Cores in each planet (and their moons) was to help maintain the breathable air. While the air was identical to Earth's, the water that filled it's air was different. Cells in the water bonded with the cells in the body that controlled these colors. The same would happen each planet inhabited later on, except the color would be different. Mars produced crimson and reds. Jupiter produced a spectrum of greens. Science has yet to discover the reason for the variation of colors from the same stimulus, but has created a medicine that negates these effects on hair that can also be reversed. However, the eyes you are born with are yours forever.

Just outside Phrost lie a mansion carved into the side of the snow-capped mountain overlooking the city. The dwelling was a behemoth, even for the size of the other homes scattered across the population (just under two thousand) made up mostly of extremely wealthy people. Elites from various walks of life built their dream homes on the quiet tundra. The owner of this home had a distinct background, but was known for one thing by most of the Milky Way.

Maria Destin sat by her bedroom window staring at the white tower standing over the center of Phrost. The planet's only Sanctuary was it's tallest structure. Her hand twisted a loose thread on her black stockings as her mind wandered through a number of things. It wasn't until her PAC (Personal Accessory Communicator) began to vibrate that her concentration broke. "Julius Silver" was written in neon letters across the face of her watch. After a quick debate she decided to answer; voice only.

"Yes Julius? What is it?" She said in a flat voice.

"I thought you would be awake by now. It's almost 2pm. I'd like to talk to you."

"Okay. I guess. Where are you?"

"In my office. I'll see you soon."

Maria let out a sigh after hung up. She stood up and walked over to her mirror. Her thick, wavy, chocolate brown hair matched perfectly with her eyes of the same color. She adjusted the white ribbon in her hair and brushed off her dress of the same color. Maria was an undeniably beautiful woman. She would stand out amongst beauty queens. And yet, as she took in her reflection the last time a smile crossed her face failed to reach her memory. Her gaze drifted up to a picture stuck in the corner of her mirror. As she held it in her hands she began to remember. The last time she held him, the love of her life, Ray Hikari. Almost three years had past since she truly smiled.

Julius Silver stood over a desk covered in papers and small devices. Born with an above genius level IQ, he always had an affinity for learning and especially science. His destiny lead him to becoming an assassin, but he never strayed away from academics. Starting from his early teenage years, Julius began to contribute to medicine and technology from behind the scenes. His inventions and research helped make strides in both fields. The Body Weaver machines that were used across the galaxy were perfected by his hand. He received no credit or accolades for his work; and he was content with anonymity. Julius simply had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge; at any cost.

Maria walked into the room and slowly made her way around the desk. Julius listened to the click-clacking of her snow white heels on the floor as he finished up what he was reading; she always waited for him to speak first. When he looked up she was sitting on the arm of a couch in front of the window watching him. He moved his bushy, silver bangs from his face to see her. Being a pure blooded Plutonian, his eyes were the same lustrous color.

"How are you Maria? You look wonderful today."

"I'm fine. What is it you wanted to talk about?" She said impatiently.

Julius sighed and walked around the desk and sat on the edge across from her. He had to move his bushy silver ponytail before he sat down. It reached almost to his ankles and was somewhat famous. Maria waited with her arms crossed.

"We've been on Pluto for a few months now. I thought you might like to spend some time closer to the sun. I have a appointment on Venus soon. After that I was thinking maybe we could vacation on Mercury for a while." He said hopefully.

She couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in skepticism. "Vacation?"

"Well, yeah. Mercury is a planet of islands and beaches. People only go there for vacation. I own a house on white sand. It's a lovely place. I'm sure you'll enjoy it there. The sun is in the sky for...a very long time. I thought you would enjoy a break from all the snow and ice."

She stared at him in disbelief. For him to suggest something so leisurely was completely out of his character. Usually he only dragged her along from planet to planet, leaving her alone while he conducted his business. Maria couldn't help but think he had some ulterior motive. However, she also didn't want to let the opportunity to leave the Phrost pass her by. Julius seldomly let her go anywhere without him; and when he did she was supervised.

"Well...Your right about that. Okay fine." She said finally.

Julius smiled and took her hand in his.

"I'm glad you accepted. I know your going to love it. I have to finish the research and all that to take with me but after that we can go. Tomorrow morning should be enough time."

Maria took her hand back and stood up.

"I'll start packing then." She said unenthusiastically.

He looked out the window listening to her steps. The sunlight reflected off the ice and snow casting a silvery glow on the room. Julius usually kept his lights dim because of this.

"Oh Maria. One more thing."

Her hand was almost on the doorknob when he spoke. She turned, expecting him to be where she left him; where she heard his voice come from. Instead he was a mere two feet away from her. She hadn't heard him take a step. Maria felt the familiar grip of fear she had somehow grown used to living with him for two years. The thought that he would suddenly break her in half, something she had witnessed him do barehanded on more than one occasion, could never escape her mind. Maria could never place what was going on in his head. It left her constantly on her toes around him; watching every move he made.

"Yes?"

"I'll take you shopping once we get to Venus. I've been told it's where most people do the shopping when visiting Mercury. The house is empty so, you can fill it's closets with whatever you like."

Maria gave Julius a half-hearted smile and continued out the door. He stood staring at the door until the screen on the wall to his right suddenly came on. It still didn't garner his complete attention until the busty reporter for BNN (Bounty News Network) uttered words that froze him in his place.

"Breaking news here at BBN today, the mysterious combatants in last night's brawl over the city of Stardust on Earth have been identified. Just after 3:00 am glass rained down on the streets below after 3 windows were blown out the well-known condominium Sakura 2. Moments later, after a series of resounding gun shots, two figures could be seen falling from the hole out onto the street; one of them landing on top of and destroying a vehicle. We received clear footage of the altercation revealing Lumiere's 8th ranked member and former member of 5 Diamonds, Sloane Solera. She was entangled with who at one time was the most sought after man in the universe Ray Hikari. Hikari, ranked 6th overall by Lumiere and also a former member of 5 Diamonds, disappeared from the galaxy after a fall out in the squad. Popular belief was he was killed almost three years ago, resulting in the team's disbanding at the time. But 3 months after the squad reportedly parted ways, a one billion dollar bounty was placed on his head; still the 3rd highest bounty to date behind only the King of the Stars and Bruno Krona respectively. A monumental search ensued throughout the galaxy for the man rumored to be dead. After a year of exploring every inch of the galaxy by every bounty hunter and assassin the cosmos had to offer, most gave up, conceding to the idea of his demise. Now, he appears to be alive, very well, and picking up where he left off with his former team. Although I'm sure there more to this than meets the eye. Needless to say we'll keep you updated as the facts come in. Now we move onto..."

His mind faded into silence as he processed the information. So many questions came to him, Julius couldn't bring himself to move until he sorted his thought. There was so much to do. And now, his time to do it was completely contingent on how many problems Ray was going to cause. He would undoubtedly be looking for him, if he wasn't already on his way to Phrost. No. Sloane wouldn't tell him that. Would she? Was she even alive? There were too many unknowns. He walked over to his computer and started typing furiously. The white, stylized 5 inside of a round cut diamond (if viewed from the side) on his charcoal, black coat caught his eye. He couldn't help but stop and think. About squad he once commanded, the family he once had. About what length Ray Hikari would go to kill him.

Sloane didn't wake up until after midnight. She hadn't slept that long in years; since Ray "died". It wasn't until she made her way back into the living room that Sloane noticed she was only wearing her panties and a t-shirt. Bruno sat in the living room with her back towards her leaning over the table. He turned around and expecting her to yell, instead she walked around the couch and sat next to him. It was silent for a moment between them. Sloane couldn't help but be embarrassed. Her face started to flush as the memory of what happened slowly started to come back to her. Bruno grinned when he noticed and slid a syringe with the luminescent blue-orange liquid she had been staring at before in front of her.

"I put that together for you. You seemed to like it."

She glanced at it quickly and went back to glaring into the kitchen.

"I have my own injection gun you know. I don't need you to do that." She snapped.

"Yeah but you were sleeping. And you seemed very curious in that one. It's strong so I didn't want you to overdo it. That should be enough to take the edge off; and then some. It goes by the name of "DragonsBlood". And honestly, it's one of my favorites."

She leaned over and picked it up, twisting it in her fingers. Bruno sat back and watched as she took the cap off with her teeth and closely inspected her arm that was still a blank canvas.

"How long was I sleep? What time is it?" She mumbled with the cap in her mouth.

"It's almost 1am. You slept all day. I was surprised. Had time to leave for a bit and come back. Your very pretty when you sleep you know."

"Don't be a creep."

"And your quite chatty."

Sloane turned and spit the cap at Bruno. He grinned as it bounced on the floor after hitting his sunglasses.

"What did I say?"

She could only remember a few times he smiled that hard at her. He reached in his pocket and sat her PPC on table.

"You got a phone call too."

"Why the fuck do you have my PPC in your pocket?"

"I just told you, you got a phone call. I picked it up and, you know, reflexes." He was pointed to her kitchen. "I was cooking at the time."

"So who was it?! Did you pick it up?!"

"No, actually. I can't unlock it anyway. See for yourself."

She picked it up to see a missed call and a message from Julius Silver.

"I need you to come to Phrost immediately. We all need to discuss your reunion."

She sighed and threw her PPC across the room.

"Bad news?"

Sloane got lost in her thoughts for a moment, processing the information.

"Julius knows. I have to go to Pluto."

"Now you don't to HAVE to go..." Bruno said sarcastically.

"He's only going to bitch and moan because I didn't tell him first."

"And your going to go all the way to the edge of the galaxy for that?"

Sloane lined up the needle with the vein in her arm and slowly injected the "Dragon's Blood" into her bloodstream.

"The others will be there. He probably wants to decide her we're going to kill Ray this time."

Bruno watched as she closed her and took in a deep, slow breath. Sloane held it for about 15 second before exhaling a thick, orange smoke from her mouth; one of the famous effects of Gaia.

"Do you really think it's a good idea for all of you to be together? Your just making it easier for him to kill you all at the same time."

When she opened her eyes the room had transformed into something new. Every color she saw was the most vibrant it could be. She rested her head on the back of the couch and absorbed the scene. Sloane could see the entire room in front of her now in perfect focus; almost as if it was third-person. As her eyes moved from place to place, the colors bleed and danced around each other. Her hand moved across the couch, her thigh, up to her stomach. The different textures on her fingers sent vibrations through her entire body. Her tattoos appeared to be moving when looked at her left arm; almost rising up from her skin. She saw his name hidden in the artwork, a grin appeared. A soft moan as she, traced it with her fingertips. Ray Hikari. Bruno rolled his eyes.

"This is some really good shit Krona...I needed this so bad." Sloane spoke softly and slow. Her tone was almost seductive.

"Did you hear anything I said?" He was clearly annoyed now.

"I heard you. But...he's not going to kill anyone. We're going to- I'M going to kill him. Stop worrying. You know I hate that."

Sloane moved across the couch and sat on Bruno's lap. She took off his sunglasses and put them atop her head before wrapping her arms around the back of his neck. The second, and also famous, side effect from Gaia is it made the user's eyes glow a different color, usually one of colors from the product. Her usual bright yellow was now a glowing pale cyan. Sloane stared deep into his neon green. It wasn't too often Bruno took off his sunglasses. When he did, his eyes were always glowing. Sloane had no idea what planet he came from.

Bruno wondered if Sloane was slowly rocking her hips back and forth to distract him. It was working. He had to stay focused.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get you to shut up. Your starting to get annoying."

"I just-"

His plea was interrupted by her biting his lip. Sloane grinned. He started to squeeze her thighs. She kept glancing at his name inscribed on her skin. Ray Hikari.


	5. 5 Diamonds Chapter 5

Ray walked back into the apartment to find Claire sitting on the couch staring out into sky from her new window. It was easily the best view from her home now.

He stopped at the door leaning on it gently when it closed. She hadn't yet acknowledged his presence. Ray feared the worse for her reaction to it all. He just didn't want her to be afraid of him.

"Are you alright? Did she hurt you?"

He looked up from the shatter glass on the floor. She started walking over to him.

"I'm fine. But...all this. I had no idea she was following me Claire. I would have never brought this to your doorstep. I'm really sorry she...we did all this damage to your home. I'll pay for everything."

She reached up and gently touched his cheek and smiled.

"I'm just glad you didn't get hurt Ray."

He could feel his skin getting warmer from her touch.

"We should go. I'll put you up somewhere while this is taken care of. Wherever is good for you."

"Are you going to stay with me?" She asked hopefully.

Ray stared into her ice blue eyes. They took him to familiar places. Parts of his mind he hadn't seen in years. How could he refuse?

"Of course. I have to make sure your safe."

She beamed. "I'll grab my things then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sloane rested her head on her hand as she stared out the window of her airship at Jupiter's rings through her newly acquired sunglasses. Thebe, the furthest of the Amalthea Group, was passing by her window when her PPC began to ring in front of her. "Jayzmyne Novela" flashed on the screen. She pressed a few buttons and transferred the call to the screen. Jayzmyne wasn't tall, only 5'1, this was clear even when she was sitting. Her eyes were a deep crimson while her hair was a much brighter shade of the same color.

"What the hell did you do to your hair?" Sloane asked confused.

"I don't talk to you for almost a month and that's how you greet me?" She said incredulously.

She always kept her hair in a short, high ponytail with bangs on either side of her face. Now said bangs were cut to different lengths; one much shorter than the other.

"I'm sorry but it's the first thing I noticed."

Jayzmyne rolled her eyes. "Right. I've done this before. Where are you?"

"Currently making my way around Jupiter. I'm on my way to Phrost. I'm assuming you heard the news..."

"Yeah I talked to that paranoid bitch. I told him I'm not going. And you aren't either. Your way closer to me on Mars than you are to him. Come here. Julius is coming here too. He's being ridiculous. I'm not dropping everything just because Hikari has shown up. Besides he's still on Earth isn't he? Why are we running? I'm certainly not afraid of him."

Sloane scoffed. "I don't think anyone is besides him."

"Exactly! Just come here and we'll take it from there. Are you alright though? I won't lie I was worried about you."

She thought for a moment before she answered. "He wanted to talk Jayz...he wouldn't fight me. I don't think he made a single offensive move. He wouldn't even draw his sword until it was absolutely necessary."

Jayzmyne gaze a puzzled expression. "I saw the footage. I thought you just had him on his heels."

"No. He's not out of practice. If anything he's gotten stronger."

Jayzmyne laughed. "That's fine. So have we. That's not what I meant though. I know you wouldn't let him touch you. I meant with...you know. How are you feeling?"

Sloane went silent again for moment. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a cigarette.

"I don't know Jaymyne. I'm still trying to figure it out."

"Well I see you saw Bruno. Did he make you feel any better?" She teased.

"I'll see you when I get there Jayz."

She heard Jaymyne erupt into laughter as she hang up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Maria was standing in the kitchen cutting up vegetables when Julius found her; following the familiar sound of steel on wood. Cooking became one of Maria's favorite ways to pass time. She would often spend whole days preparing meals, taking her time to perfect every detail. It was something she had absolutely no talent for at the beginning, but she gradually became quite good. The state of the art kitchen and high quality ingredients that were provided certainly helped. Julius often compared her cooking to chefs, but for her it was something she only wanted to be good at so she could cook for Ray. That's how it started.

He took a bottle of water out of the fridge and paced the kitchen for a moment before silence filled the room; Maria sat her knife down on the cutting board.

"You know if you want to say something Julius..." She said finally.

He stopped and stared at her from across the counter.

"Something has come up." He said with a moments hesitation.

"What exactly?"

"I...can't go into detail yet, I'm still not completely clear on the specifics myself, but I have to go Mars to meet with everyone."

"Okay so are we leaving now? Is that why your acting like that?"

"No. I'm not taking you with me Maria. Not this time."

Julius watched her face closely. He had no idea how she was going to respond. Her eyes widened and quickly narrowed in suspicion. Julius noticed. Maria chose her next words wisely.

"Is something wrong? Is everyone okay?" She tried to sound genuine.

"Actually Sloane was attacked. And I've been unable to get in touch with anyone besides Jayzmyne; who's on Mars. The person who attacked Sloane could be hunting us."

Maria looked at him with skepticism written across her face. She couldn't really help it at this point; Julius' behavior seemed off. Something was really bothering him, and nothing seemed to ever bothered Julius.

"What makes you think your being "hunted"? That's quite the jump don't you think?"

"Not when you take into account who we are. We're some of the strongest individuals in the universe. If one of us gets attacked, I have to take that very seriously. And that's why I'm going alone. I have a really bad feeling about this. I don't want to put you in danger since I don't know what's going on."

Silence descended on the kitchen. Maria knew he was lying. Julius watched hoping she believed it. He started to walk around the counter towards her. When she noticed he first reaction was to grab the knife in front of her; he stopped in his tracks. Maria quickly dismissed those thoughts, they would get her nowhere. She picked up a tomato and went back to cutting. Julius continued his approach until he was standing next to her.

"I'm sorry...Maria I feel terrible. I know you want to leave Phrost. And you will. Once I figure out what exactly is going on I'll send for you. By then things should be settled and we can go to Mercury as planned; or anywhere else your heart desires. I want to make this up to you." He said as put his hand on her shoulder.

Her body went tense immediately. She stopped cutting and walked to the fridge and looked for ingredients that were already on the counter. Julius still wouldn't leave; which was all she wanted.

"So when are you leaving?"

"Now. I want to get to Mars as soon as possible."

"Well, I'll be here waiting for your word then." She said indifferently.

He walked to the doorway and stopped as she walked back to her work space.

"I'm sorry about this Maria. I love you..."

"Give everyone my best." She said in her coldest voice.

Soon after Julius left music, EDM as usual, blaring from the kitchen. Even though it was as loud as it could go, he could still hear the unmistakable sound of Maria screaming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Helio City was the second largest city on Mars, slightly smaller than it's first city Volcanica. Helio City started out as a place where businesses and the like could grow and thrive since Volcanica was 80% residential; being one of the first colonized cities after migrating from Earth. Helio City served it's intended purpose well, and because of it grew and started to house it's own residents. An unintended consequence of this was that it drew the attention of Lumiere because of all of it's resources. Helio City served of a battleground for decades between the HUC and Lumiere. Now, like the majority of the galaxy, the HUC has primary control over the city while Lumiere operates within the confines of their limits. However with 3 Sanctuaries, more and any other city in the galaxy, Helio City had an unwavering reputation for being full of assassins and conversely, a very dangerous place.

Jayzmyne Novela, the smallest member of 5 Diamonds, returned to her homeland after the squad began it's hiatus. After their Master's sudden passing, all of them had a freedom they had never experienced before in their lives. Free to pursue and interest they wanted without prosecution, Jayzmyne took it upon herself to solve the mystery of her dreams.

For as long as she could remember, a child with evergreen hair haunted her memory. Finally, she was able to look into the little girl. After a long search she discovered the girl was her little sister, Robyn Arc. It took her until after the assault on Ray to find her. Robyn, who by that time was 17, was living in Helio City. She attended the city's university and had become famous. She was the champion blind archer of Helio City.

Robyn was apprehensive at first. She lost her sight by the time she was 4, and didn't remember much before that. Adopted at age 5, she let her past go and embraced her family. Robyn moved to Mars after turning 16 to continue school. Archery was something she had picked up along the way after hearing a story about a man of legend on Mars who apparently made it rain arrows in Helio City. She was sure it was exaggerated, but she couldn't help but be fascinated by the lore. The bow and arrow almost chose her. Like everything else in her life, she refused to let her lack of sight stop her from doing anything, now she was the best Mars had ever seen. Jayzmyne couldn't be more proud of her sister.

It took Jayzmyne a week to convince Robyn that they were kin. It wasn't until she finally conceded her recurring dream about the girl with forest green hair that Robyn came around. She too had been haunted by a little girl in her mind. One who was obviously a little older, had eyes like rubies, hair the same hue as perfect rose, and promised to find her one day. That girl, Jayzmyne, was the only face Robyn could remember clearly for a long time.

After their reunion Robyn left school and Jayzmyne taught her how to be an assassin. The work was halfway done, Jayzmyne had never seen anyone better with a bow and arrow. All she needed was technique and to learn how to move. Jayzmyne would eventually commission Julius to fix her vision. He recommended new eyes, Robyn refused, stating her teal-colored eyes are what made her who she is. So he instead made her a blindfold. A simple black strip of cloth wrapped around her head (and eyes of course) allowed her to see perfectly. It also allowed her to see different spectrums if she chose, like heat and in the dark.

Now they lived together in Helio City, Robyn continuing her training and Jayzmyne taking care of targets, assassins and bounties alike, to keep rust from accumulating or her own skills.

Sloane arrived in Helio City a day and a half after speaking to her squad member and closest friend. Jayzmyne lived in the epicenter of the city, which she always hated. There were always too many people. She almost went to a Sanctuary she detested it so. However, the last time Sloane tired to do that Jayzmyne nearly destroyed the tower trying to find her.

As the elevator rose to the top of the building where Jayzmyne's condo was located she glanced at her PPC. Several messages from Julius. She sighed, crushed it in her palm, and dropped it on the floor as she exited the elevator.

Jayzmyne was sitting in her living room when Sloane entered. BNN was on her tv and a bottle of whisky sat on the table in front of her covered in frost.

"It sure took you long enough I thought you would get here last night."

"I had to go back through the asteroid belt. You know that."

Sloane walked over and they embraced. It has been at least three months since they had spent time together even though the at least talked every few days. Sloane often felt like she would go crazy if she didn't have Jayzmyne to confide in. Robyn and Jayzmyne were her only female friends and they were two of the only people she trusted completely. They sat down across from each other and Jayzmyne poured shots. After knocking back three consecutively without a word, Jayzmyne watched Sloane and a grin crept across her face.

"What is it?" Sloane asked, confused.

"It's just everytime I see you, a different pair of sunglasses. It's cute."

Sloane groaned and rolled her eyes. Jayz was still able to tell.

"I'm just saying. I've seen you two together. I just think your looking past something right in front of you. I mean he's obviously-"

"Shut up. Don't say it." Sloane snapped. This time Jayzmyne rolled her eyes.

"Well what do you want to talk about? Hikari? I don't. We'll talk about him more than enough when Silver get's here."

"Where's Robyn?"

"At the Sanctuary training where she always is. I couldn't keep her away even I wanted to. That girl is determined be one of us." Jayzmyne started pouring more shots. "I'm extremely proud of her. She's grown so much since she started. From what I hear, no one can stand up to her at the Sanctuary. Any of them for that matter."

"Then why does she go? Why don't you let her go after Contracts? If she's that good she'll get ranked. Start making her own money."

"That's exactly what I don't want. She already gets all the attention she needs. The entire planet knows she's my sister. And she's already grown tired of that stigma." She downed her shot and pointed at Sloane's. She drank it before Jayzmyne could; because she would.

"That's exactly my point. If I was her, I would be trying to get out of your shadow. Especially if all I heard were comparisons to my famous sister."

Jayzmyne scoffed and took another drink. "Come on we're going to the roof. I'm waiting for someone."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the next two days Ray and Claire spent their days together on the south side of the city laying low. Surely word had gotten out that the phantom on 5 Diamonds was out for revenge and he began to worry about a plethora of bounty hunters and assassins coming out of the woodwork to collect his bounty. Of course, there were only four he was really concerned with, but he couldn't risk Claire getting hurting in an senseless violence.

The morning of the third day Claire woke up hours after Ray, who rarely slept through the entire night; if at all. She walked out into the sun-filled living room to find food already made for her and the TV tuned to BBN playing quietly. Ray leaned on the wall near the window staring out at the city, more specifically, the Sanctuary near the Spaceport.

"Good morning Ray. How long have you been up?"

"It's 1pm. So, awhile now." He said in a monotone voice.

"1pm?!" She exclaimed with a mouth full of half chewed biscuit. "Why didn't you wake me up?! I feel like such a slob..."

"You've slept until at least noon everyday. Who am I to disturb your routines? You are a bartender after all."

"I'm not doing it on purpose! I still never sleep that long." She was blushing now. "It's only because I've been up so late with you every night."

"Well, it's not like I do anything exciting. You can sleep when you want. I assure you nothing worthwhile will be missed."

Claire scoffed and sat down on the couch with her back towards him and continued to eat her breakfast; sausages, eggs, and two biscuits. Ray continued to stare out the window listening closely to the TV. He waited until she finished with her food to give her the news.

"Claire...I'm leaving today."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"I have to find Sloane and the others. I need to rescue Maria. This has to end. And I as long as your with me you will be in danger. There no sense to it. We need to part ways. My sins are not yours."

The room fell silent. Ray was surprisingly anxious for her reply. Her heart raced. Being with him these past few days felt like a dream. One that was ending far too soon. She wasn't ready to wake up yet.

"What if...I said I wanted to go with you?"

He paused before he answered. Such a thing had never crossed his mind. Claire could almost tell. She was surprised. His face went totally blank.

"Why would you want to do that? You were almost killed by simply being in the same place as me. Sloane is about as strong they come. Keep in mind I'm looking for her. I can't guarantee your safety; from her or anyone else I may come across."

She stared at him absorbing his words. He was right. And she knew all of that when she said it. None of that mattered.

"You won't protect me?"

"It's not that simple. A situation could present itself where I can't. Or I just may be already dead."

"I understand that Ray. I do. But...I don't care. Would you really rather go through all this by yourself? I can tell...this is eating you alive and your killing yourself. And it will continue to do exactly that as long as you keep all that shit inside. I'll stay out of your way and I'll leave if your fighting. But I really think that you need someone to talk to, to confide in, to lean on. I can be that person. If you keep you going on like this your just going to make it easier for the them to kill you when you do find them."

Ray turned to the T.V. playing quietly on the wall. The news was on, covering the opening of a new Sanctuary in Helio City; bringing it's total to 4. Citizens of the metropolis were beginning to worry. Mars already had a reputation for it's assassin related activity.

She made sense. Not until spending this short amount of time with her did Ray realize how it felt to hold a normal conversation with someone. He felt relaxed in her presence. Having her around wouldn't be bad, but she would be putting herself in a considerable amount of danger. If she were to die because of him...And..

"When I kill them all, and rescue Maria...what will you do then?"

Claire felt her stomach turn, her thoughts hadn't gone that far. Ray was spoken for. She was his reason. Still, when Claire looked at him, she felt her very existence catch fire.

Claire finally smiled at him.

"I'll figure that out when you get her back. I hardly see the point in worrying about it now. I want to help you. And honestly, I'm looking forward to meeting her. She must be one hell of a woman."

Even she didn't know if there was any truth to the words she just said.

His gray went back to the television. Staring into her eyes like he was, she would surely win. Claire began to speak, and things went silent.

Passing elegantly through the sea of Helio Cities' inhabitants behind the reporter, was the silver hair of the devil. Ray could hear nothing but his heartbeat as Julius Silver walked past in broad daylight. As he neared the edge of the screen his head turned slightly. His blood turned to ice as their eyes met from across the galaxy.

"Pack only what you absolutely need. We're leaving. Right now."

"Wha-Where are we going?"

"To Helio City. To Mars."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was well into the night when Jayzmyne started to wonder where her sister was. Robyn usually kept her updated on her whereabouts. Unless she was still training, which, wasn't entirely unbelievable. Still, she had been standing on the roof observing the cities' nightlife for a few hours now. She was almost certain she was drunk. Her eyes turned to Sloane. The injection gun was being loaded for it's fifth time.

"Robyn hasn't tried to contact you has she?"

Sloane glanced at her watch. The neon glow of her eyes went brilliantly with the night lights of Helio city.

"No she hasn't. Was she supposed to be here by now?"

"Not exactly. I was just expecting her to be..."

"Robyn can handle herself right? I wouldn't worry. That's what she's-"

In one fluid motion Sloane jumped from her chair and landed about 30 feet from the door, the only entrance to the roof, with her pistol cocked.

"If you turn that doorknob without announcing yourself I will blow your fucking head off!" she screamed.

Then the suave, deep, voice they both knew all too well came from the other side of the door.

"Have you relaxed now Sloane? Or must you insist on shooting at us?"

Her stance relaxed. Jayzmyne joined her.

"Us? Who are you with?"

The door swung open and out stepped Julius and Robyn. She beamed when she saw Sloane standing across from her. It had been some time since they saw each other last. Robyn was almost 21 now and Sloane (as well as Jayzmyne) was pleased with the woman she was becoming.

When she ran over and gave her a hug Sloane noticed that they are about the same height now. And her curly, evergreen hair reached her lower back. Robyn looked as if she had just returned from a Contract; clad in all black. Boots, leggings, and her top covered by her cloak. Sloane glared at Julius over her shoulder; why did they arrive together? He returned her skeptical gaze with a poker face.

While Sloane and Robyn exchanged pleasantries, Julius walked over to Jayzmyne.

"Has she been like that since she got here?" He inquired.

"No. We were actually relaxing. A bit too much it seems. I think you genuinely surprised her."

He looked around and quickly assessed the scene, taking in the two empty bottles of liquor and the injection gun on the chair.

"Right. Well I'm here now. All we're missing now is Gabriel."

"Have you talked to him?"

"No...He didn't return any if my calls. I'm pretty sure you have though. So I wasn't worried about it."

She turned to meet Julius' pale, silver eyes already looking down at her. Jayzmyne felt like he was peering straight through her; a comment often uttered about Julius.

"And...what makes you so sure about that?"

"Well you two are so close and all." He said matter-of-factly.

Suddenly, it was cold. Before words could form her sister joined them with Sloane on her arm. Robyn, oblivious to the tension in the air between them, suggested they go inside. Julius agreed quickly and went inside saying someone should try to contact Gabriel. It wasn't until he was gone that Robyn noticed the distressed look etched across her sister's face.

"Jayz, what's wrong? You look...anxious."

"Robyn go inside. Jayzmyne and I will be down in a moment. We need to clean up." Sloane ordered.

She knew this wasn't true, but obeyed all the same. It gave her a very bad feeling. Jayzmyne contemplated her words before speaking. Her thoughts were scattered. Sloane watched and waited.

"I need you to be completely honest with me with now." She said in almost a frantic tone.

"Always. You know that."

"Did you tell Julius and me and Gabriel? "

She raised an eyebrow.

"No. Of course not. I honestly avoid him as much as possible. Maria is ever by his side. You know that."

"Well, he knows. And I have no idea how he would know. You and Robyn are literally the only people that should. And Robyn is always under my watch. She wouldn't have an opportunity."

"She trains pretty much alone at the Sanctuaries right? She's had plenty of oppurtunity."

The possibilities began to settle in on Jayzmyne as she found herself on Sloane's page.

"You don't really think she would fall into one of his schemes do you? I've told her so much about Julius. She has to know that would be a mistake."

"I guess there's only one way to find out."

The two of them arrived in the living room to find Robyn sitting across from the suspect; drinks between them. Little sister trying to catch up to her elder. Jayzmyne stood in the kitchen while Sloane started to reload her injection gun. Julius was grinning; the tension they brought with them amused him.

"So, Jayzmyne, have you spoken to Gabriel?"

"No. He hasn't responded to anything from me."

"That's fine. While you two were away Robyn her managed to get ahold of him." Julius said as he knocked back a shot. "All will be well soon."

Jayz quickly exchanged glances with Sloane before she glared at her sister. She was immediately taken aback.

"What? Julius said he should have been here by now. I wanted to make sure he was alright."

"Either way, Jayzmyne, he was supposedly already en route. He should be here any moment."

Julius sat up and poured another drink. Sloane injected the 6th ounce of the night into her veins; afterwards quickly retreating behind her large black sunglasses. Jayzmyne was sick to her stomach. She knew Gabriel was going to be upset with her. Robyn got up to get more whisky and before she could sit back down she heard the door close.

The air went still when he entered the room. Tall and muscular, unlike his other male comrades, Gabriel looked almost like a Greek statue. His blood originating from Neptune his eyes were a deep, navy blue while his short, always disheveled hair was a bright royal blue. His face was calm as he took in the room. Jayzmyne was almost holding her breath. Julius sat with his back to him, a grin on his face. Robyn could even feel the tension in the air. Sloane watched closely from behind her glasses. She hadn't seen Gabriel in some time.

"Looks like I missed the party..." He almost sounded disappointed.

Julius scoffed.

"Now now. We could hardly begin without you. Now we can talk business."

"Business huh? I hardly think that's what we're going to talk about." He said through a sigh.

"Come now Gabriel..."

Julius' words were covered in malcontent. Gabriel's focus shifted to Jayzmyne; who's eyes hadn't left him since he appeared. Her expression showed a 1000 words only he could read.

"Are you alright Jayzmyne?"

"Yes...Always." She said quietly.

"And the lovely Miss Solera. It's been too long. How's Ray?" Gabriel always loved pressing Sloane's buttons. It was too easy.

"Ha. Your a funny bastard. Robyn. Leave."

"Why do I have to leave?" She demanded.

Her guardian intervened.

"None of this has anything to do with you. Go. I'll call you when we're finished." Jayzmyne's were final.

Robyn turned to Julius giving him an anxious look. He was still wearing his smug grin. His eyes only met hers for a moment before moving on. She felt instantly rejected.

"Fine. And you don't have to call me either. I'll be back later."

"Don't leave the city Robyn." She ordered.

She muttered several obscenities on her way out the door. One by one they all gathered around the table as Julius poured Gabriel a drink. After a moment of quiet between them their leader sat up to address them.

"Now, I think you all know we are all here. Ray Hikari has surfaced. There's no doubt that he will be hunting us all."

His eyes shifted to Sloane across from him, leaning on her hand. If he couldn't see the faint glow of her eyes behind her sunglasses Julius would be sure she was sleeping. Gabriel scoffed.

"You can't that surprised. This is Ray Hikari we're talking about."

"Even so, his wounds were substantial. I fully expected him to bleed out in minutes. Could he have had some assistance?" Julius said slyly.

His taunt was clearly aimed at Sloane, who, rolled her eyes behind her black glasses and ignored him.

"That's ridiculous. We were on our own compound. And after that we all left together. Ray just...isn't human." Gabriel almost couldn't believe his own words.

Jayzmyne slammed her hand on the table. She had reached her limit.

"Bullshit! That's exactly what he is! A fucking human like the rest of us! I'll kill him myself tonight. All this, this meeting, for HIM?! Someone we all thought was dead until only a day or two ago? Seriously? Julius. Are you afraid of him? Because that's exactly what this looks like!"

Sloane shifted her position in her seat, her first movement in a while. Julius stared at Jayzmyne in silence before giving a smug grin accompanied by a chuckle.

"Scared? That's what you think this is about?"

"It makes sense to me." Sloane said finally.

Julius gave Sloane an amused look.

"Is that so? Gabriel. Are you of the same mindset?"

He sighed.

"I think it would be wise of us all to get on the same page. He is coming for our lives. I know all of you are aware of that." Gabriel was already tired of the bickering. He had always been the mediator of the squad.

"Really? Well if that's the case, then how is it that Sloane is still here?"

Gabriel's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh you haven't heard? Sloane fought him. She is the one that saw him."

Gabriel glanced at Jayzmyne before turning to Sloane.

"I was told he had been seen...Not that someone had made contact. Let alone one of us. When were you going to say that?"

"You're the only one that doesn't know. I assumed you did. Blame your intel." Julius said in his most smug tone.

Jayzmyne sighed in annoyance.

"I didn't know she fought him until after I sent you that message. By then it didn't matter you were on your way."

"So what happened?"

Sloane was silent. Julius grinned and answered for her.

"Apparently Ray has taken refuge with some bartender on Earth. Sloane attacked them at her apartment. They crossed swords, so to speak, but from I understand no blood was shed. Not even a connecting blow."

Sloane lifted her sunglasses and placed them atop her head. The glow had finally faded and her piercing yellow eyes were glaring at Julius.

"That last detail was something I didn't tell you." Her voice was acid.

"Well your obviously unscathed. I think if he had gotten to you we'd be able to tell still."

"But how do you know he is?" Sloane demanded.

Julius flashed his smug grin. And sat up and leaned across the table to stare back into her eyes.

"The person who designed your glasses told me."

Sloane's eyes widened. The room fell silent. Gabriel got a better look. They were obviously very expensive. Gold trimmed the sides of the lenses and most of the arms. It was an intricate design, and he could make out a "B" worked into its features. He couldn't help but feel like he'd seen them before; or something like it at least. After a moment of thought. . .

"I'll tell you this Julius, Ray hasn't lost a step. If anything, he's gained one. You have a very good reason to be scared. Right now, he'll probably kill you." She taunted.

"Well, dear Sloane, if he couldn't kill you then maybe he isn't as resolved as Gabriel seems to think. That being said though, I'm certainly not naive enough to think that he's not going to surface again anytime soon. So, as usual, I wanted to consult my team before making an important decision."

Sloane scoffed.

"Because you can't just go deal with it yourself. You need us to take him out because you can't do it alone. And you know he wants you more than he wants us. Where is your hostage anyway?"

Sloane and Julius couldn't be in the same place for too long without arguing. It had been that way since Ray's departure. Julius laughed.

"She didn't need to make this trip. Besides there's a lot of troublesome people in Helio City. A lot of thugs. Like Bruno Krona and the like..."

Gabriel's eyes widened and he once again got a look at the sunglasses. Sloane stood up and put the glasses back over her eyes.

"Julius you're a fucking coward. And if you ever talk to me like that again I'll kill you my fucking self before Ray has a chance to. I promise you that."

With that Sloane left the apartment. It was probably for the best. If allowed to go any further, a brawl would have surely ensued; which wasn't out of the norm. One that Gabriel and Jayzmyne would have been able to nothing about. Julius sat up and poured a round of drinks. He and Gabriel took thiers down and sat in the silence for awhile.

"So Julius, what exactly were you planning to do about Ray? You spoke as if you had something in mind." Gabriel said finally with a sigh.

"Well, Gabriel, obviously Ray's appearance circulated quickly. I've already been contacted by several people interested in the contract."

"You put a contract on him already?"

"No. But no one in their right mind would go after him without knowing the situation. A lot of them are actually pretty capable. That's what this meeting was for. I wanted to know if you all wanted to handle this internally, so to speak, or not."

"Julius, that's not a bad idea, but I don't think anyone besides one of us is going to be able to pull it off. Even if they can fight on Ray's level, our level, Ray has an ace. You know that."

"But no one else does. I certainly don't care what happens to those people. And even with his ace, they are still some pretty worthy candidates. At the very least they'll slow him down for us. Either way, Sloane left. And whatever I decide affects us all. I'd like her to be here when we decide when and how we're going to kill him. You know, so there's no surprises. You know like I know his death will affect her the most of us all." He sighed. "Now I have to stay in this wretched city longer."

"Hey! This is my home asshole." Jayzmyne growled.

Julius rolled his eyes and walked towards the door.

"I'll be in touch."

He left and it was once again silent. Jayzmyne got up and walked over to Gabriel and sat on his lap.

"You've been gone for almost a month."

"Yeah and I had to come back to this. I was really hoping I could find him before he found one of us."

"That's why you were gone so long?"

"No. The King of the Stars is up to something. And I want to know what it is."


	6. 5 Diamonds Chapter 6

Claire hadn't been on an airship in almost 3 years; a long trip from Earth to Neptune to visit her parents. Now, this was her first time on a private one. There were only about 15 seats, from what she could see, in the wide cabin. This, however, didn't matter since they were the only passengers. He sat across from her with his eyes closed, leaning on his fist. All she could hear was the hum of the airship and couldn't tell if he was breathing let alone asleep. They had been en route for about three hours now and Ray hadn't moved an inch or said a word in two of them. Now she was beginning to wonder how much longer it would be until they arrived. Boredom weighed heavy upon her.

She turned and looked out the window into space. Deimos, the closer of Mars' moons, seemed like it was only a few city blocks away. Claire suddenly found herself in a trance from the sheer size of the cosmic rock passing her view. The sound of Ray's voice freed her from its grip. Claire almost jumped out of her skin when he suddenly spoke.

"Are you hungry?"

She turned back to face him. He still hadn't moved. Claire wondered if she was hearing things until his eyes popped open and he slowly sat up.

"Have you been awake this whole time?" She asked incredulously. Her face was starting to flush; embarrassed from being startled.

"Yes. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, you haven't moved at all in hours. I thought you had fallen asleep like that. Or died." She said followed by sticking her tongue out at him.

Ray stared at her for a long moment before responding. Her response confused him, so he ignored it.

"So do you want food or not?"

"Right! I am. But what do you propose? Are you going to cook for me? I haven't seen another soul since we boarded." Claire quickly glanced around to make sure.

"That's how private airships work. Your not bothered unless you want to be. There's a terminal over there. Order what you want and it'll be brought to you." He said pointing to his left.

Claire turned to the screen and suddenly she felt stupid. The options were scrolling past plain as day. She was so focused on Ray, she didn't even notice. With an embarrassed laugh she got up and walked over.

"Do you want anything?" She said through a sigh.

"A cup of coffee. Black. Thank you." He sat up and felt around the pockets of his coat.

After Claire ordered her food she returned to her seat across from him. Ray sat up and pulled out a cigarette and put it to his lips.

"Do you mind?"

"No. Actually, can I have one?"

After they both took a few drags their coffee arrived. Claire stared across at Ray. He looked like he was staring off into the horizon; at some far away place. Or perhaps, into the past.

"You had just got to Earth when I met you right? Did you fly there like this?" She asked shattering the silence.

"This is the only way I fly. Unless travelling with the public suits my needs. It usually doesn't."

"In an empty ship? Every time? Doesn't it get lonely?"

Ray scoffed. "I've been alone a long time Claire...This is really no different. Occasional solitude isn't a bad thing."

"But prolonged solitude can be maddening." She said with a smirk.

Ray rolled his eyes as she showed him her tongue again.

"A long time...Do you mind if I ask you about something...personal?"

Ray fixed his gaze on her. His eyes made her nervous.

"Sure. Ask away."

Claire looked away. She couldn't get the words out otherwise.

"Maria...Is she an assassin too?" She finally formed the words.

Ray stared at her as memories rushed back to him at once. He couldn't think of what she would possibly be trying to find out.

"No. She wasn't cursed with this life. Though, I did meet her while I was on a mission. I was about 17 at the time." He said starting to reflect.

"Wow. That's nearly ten years. So you two have been together this whole time?"

"More or less. Our history is...complicated to say the least..." His voice trailed off. She had clearly made the wheels start turning in his head.

Claire watched his face closely, trying to decipher his expressions. Finally she said,

"However complicated, it brought you two together. That's all that matters right?"

Ray stared at her blankly for a moment then shrugged as he went to relight his cigarette.

"So where do you think she is?"

"I have no doubt that she's with Julius. If not, he knows where she is."

"Julius. The guy you saw on T.V.? So you think she's on Mars?"

"We're going to find out very soon..."

Ray turned and peered out the window as he dropped his cigarette in his empty coffee cup.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruno stepped out of the Body Weaver machine and pulled his long dreadlocks back into a ponytail so he could ring them out; he was soaked. A woman with the same milk chocolate colored skin as he entered to room, wearing nothing but a thong. She was carrying his clothes, jewelry, and a vial of Gaia. The drug shown bright in the dim room giving off color of sky blue and crimson. He took the vial first and drank it all in one go. Then he tied his hair back and put on his underclothes and pants before dismissing the woman. While he put on his jewelry (several gold bracelets and rings, a gold watch, and five gold chains adored with different charms) he checked his PPC. A message from Sloane, and another that worried him. He checked that one first, then immediately made a phone call. A name appeared on the screen behind him, Phoenix, and he waited. Within a moment a copper-skinned man was before him. His eyes were a sandy brown, his hair jet-black with shoulder length dreadlocks; half of them gold.

"Boss. Lovely to hear from you." He greeted his leader with a smile.

"Would you mind explaining that last message to me Phoenix?" Bruno said in a stern tone.

He laughed. He was obviously nervous.

"Yeah. It seems Julius was onto us the whole time."

"And what makes you so sure about that?"

"When we got there, everything, and I mean everything was gone. Like the lab never existed. There's just a gaping hole in the side of the mountain now. I'm still baffled as to how he managed to pull this off with us almost literally sitting on top of the place the whole time. But I suppose it doesn't matter. We didn't get what you sent us there for."

Bruno turned away from the screen and looked up at the ceiling. He took a slow, deep breath and held it. When he exhaled, a powder blue smoke came from his nose and mouth. When he turned back to Phoenix his eyes now glowed bright blue, his iris' bright red.

"And what was the other thing you didn't want to send over a message?"

"It seems Lumiere is looking for you."

Bruno was again silent for a moment.

"What are you talking about?"

"As we were leaving the site, we were approached by someone who claimed to be the #4. Akira Hikari."

Bruno's eyes widened.

"What did he say? Did you fight him?"

"No we didn't fight him. You gave us strict orders not to engage high ranking members of the Guild. And it didn't really seem like he was there to fight. Although, I could sense nothing but bloodlust coming from the man."

"Then? What happened?!"

"He said that they had gotten some intel that you were going to be on Saturn. He was looking to deliver a message in person. After, I identified myself he decided to just tell me. The King of the Stars wants to meet with you."

Bruno went silent for a moment; digesting the information.

"The King? Why?"

"He said he wanted to talk about "the way the winds were blowing." He said you would know what that means. Do you?"

Bruno turned his back to the screen and grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head.

"I want you to tell everyone to lay low until I talk to him. Execute no Contracts. Keep moving all the products. Other than that stay out of sight until I tell you otherwise. Do you understand?"

"Roger that."

The screen went blank. Bruno let out a heavy sigh as he gathered the rest of his things. He was drawing too much attention to himself. It was beginning to interfere with his plans. And with the King now seeking his presence, he wouldn't be able to do much without being attacked. Bruno took one last look around his room through his sunglasses before departing. Better now than later. There was much to do. Interference from such a powerful force was something he didn't need.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Helio City was just waking up when Gabriel walked out onto the roof of Jayzmyne's building. Every morning he spent there he came up on the roof in the morning. It was quiet and peaceful for him, and reminded him of a better time in his life. He walked around the machine that maintained the building to his spot to find this morning he had company.

Sloane sat on the buildings edge with her back to him. She wasn't wearing her coat, instead a tight black tank-top. He could see all of her tattoos climbing up from her fingertips on her left hand and stopping just before her ear. He walked over and sat down next to her without a word. She was wearing the same sunglasses as before. They still looked familiar.

Neither of them said a word for awhile. It was easy for them to do that. These two former members of 5 Diamonds have always gotten along.

"You know...I don't know why...But I feel like I should apologize for Julius' behavior last night." Gabriel said finally.

Sloane scoffed.

"He knew exactly what he was doing. Don't apologize for him."

"Still, I kinda expected that, and I should have warned you. He's pretty pissed you didn't tell him before you attack Ray."

"I wasn't exactly thinking about him when I got the message."

"Well, what were you thinking?"

She went silent for a moment, contemplating her answer.

"Honestly, I wasn't at all. My mind went completely blank. I wasn't that far away. I just wanted to see him...We didn't _really _know was alive. It's one thing to assume...Believe...And when I did, to see him with another girl...I just lost it."

"How was he? Did he seem...apprehensive? Did you talk at all?"

Sloane was quiet again, reflecting on the events. They were all still so clear in her head. She saw the pained look etched across Ray's face every time she closed her eyes.

"He tried to talk to me...I guess I was the apprehensive one. That's all he was trying to do...I couldn't even get him to draw his sword until I stopped shooting at the girl, Claire I think her name is. And even when he did, he wasn't trying to fight me Gabriel. That's part of the reason I left. He played purely defense. I couldn't deal with it."

Gabriel pulled out two cigarettes, lighting them both and handing one to Sloane.

"Well...That certainly doesn't surprise me. I doubt the rest of us will receive the same treatment though." Gabriel finished his sentence with a half-hearted chuckle.

"I just don't understand what he thinks is going to change from talking. What could he possibly say?"

"While I see where you coming from, I can also imagine a lot of things he might want to say. You never know."

"What does it matter if he's still going to chase that bitch Maria across the galaxy?"

Gabriel opened his mouth to speak, but ultimately stayed silent.

"Nothing he can say will make me feel better. Nothing will bring him back to me..."

Her voice started to break as she placed one hand over her stomach. Gabriel turned to her. She had removed her glasses. Her bright yellow eyes shone like diamonds with the tears streaming down her face. He hadn't realized it until then, but she was crying the whole time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ray stood in front of the window looking out at city. He decided to check into a normal hotel instead of staying at one of Helio Cities Sanctuaries. It would be much easier for him to lay low like that; despite the Sanctuaries purpose. Ray doubted anyone would be able to keep their mouth shut about seeing him too long. They had only been in the city for a few hours and it was now the early afternoon. Claire sat on the bed staring at the emblem on the back of his coat. Something dark was on the horizon. Claire could feel it in her bones.

"I'm about to leave."

"Leave? You haven't slept. Why don't you rest some?" Ray's statement brought her out of her trance.

"No...I'm not tired. Besides it's daylight. If I'm going to find them, any of them, this would be the best time to do it. Julius is here. I can feel it. He can't hide in the light."

"Well I'm coming with you." She got up and got her jacket.

Ray turned around and watched her gather up her things. His gray eyes pierced through her like they always did. And she felt her usual mix of fear and arousal. It was still strange for her.

"Why?"

"Because I don't think you should go by yourself. I know I'll probably slow you down, but I promise if things get dangerous, I'll leave."

"Claire, I might not be able to protect you." He pleaded. "My prey are wild beast."

"I will be fine Ray. I believe in you."

She smiled and Ray felt something he hadn't felt in a long time, hope. He couldn't help but flash a grin back at her.

"Fine. Come on let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Julius leaned against the wall of the Sanctuary gazing out into the busy streets. His sword was on his hip; he hadn't been wearing it since he got to the city. But today he had a bad feeling. It was a beautiful day, people were out, and he felt like sky could fall any second. The bad feeling he had about coming to Mars in the first place was stronger than ever, and Julius always trusted his instincts.

When Robyn walked out of the building she found Julius staring up at the sky. She looked up and saw nothing but clouds and airships.

"Um...What are you looking at?" She asked confused.

"Nothing in particular...Was anything out of the ordinary in there?"

Robyn thought for a moment. "How so?"

"Anything at all. Things, people you don't normally see or hear."

Robyn thought for a moment, he watched intently.

"No. There were a lot of opponents at the training grounds today. I beat a lot of people. But it's the weekend. There's always more people and I always win my fights.

"Did you see anyone that stood out?" He said looking through the doorway of the Sanctuary.

"I don't think so. I went undefeated. I always do. And it wasn't difficult." Robyn flipped her hair; obviously proud of herself.

Julius sighed and looked around. Then he started walked into the fray of people.

"Come on. I'm supposed to meet with the others. You should tag along."

Robyn beamed and happily followed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jayzmyne, Sloane, and Gabriel went to lunch together. Jayzmyne was the last to wake, and was nothing but hungry when she did. However, she didn't get up until almost noon. Now they walked to the rendezvous point to meet with Julius. Jayz and Gabriel walked in front while Sloane trailed slightly behind them. Her focus kept moving from the 5 Diamonds emblem on their respective coats, and their interlocked fingers. She regretted not taking any Gaia before she left.

Julius was sitting on the edge of the Fountain of Apollo with Robyn when they arrived. It was one of the staples of the city and was always filled with people. The 75-foot fountain of the ancient Greek god Apollo had become an attraction since it's erection. It was hard for them to go anywhere without being noticed, so meeting in places like this at least made it look somewhat normal.

Robyn jumped up and greeted everyone with hugs. Jayzmyne was confused.

"When did you two meet up?" Jayzmyne incquired.

Gabriel and Julius exchanged glances.

"I was in the city meeting with a contact, business, and ran into her. We went and got something to eat after. Showed her one of the many excellent places to dine here on Mars. I'm surprised you haven't done it yourself Jayz. You do live here." Julius said with a smile.

Jayzmyne turned to Robyn. She was blushing. Sloane rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, I don't see why she can't be present. I think we got all the...messy stuff out of the way at our last meeting." Julius said looking around the area.

"Because it has nothing to do with her Julius! How many fucking times do I have to tell you that?! These aren't her sins!"

"But if he happens to kill you, it will be."

Jayzmyne reached for her hip and Gabriel grabbed her arm.

"Julius that was too far. Isn't that what we're here to talk about? You spoke last time like you had a plan in mind. What are you thinking?" Gabriel demanded.

The silver-haired demon flashed his smug grin.

"What if I told you I already somebody on it?"

Sloane's focus drifted to her right. Across the pool she could see a face she would recognize anywhere. The blonde-haired woman had a look of terrible worry etched across her face. As the gravity of the situation descended upon her she subconsciously started preparing herself for battle. Gabriel took notice.

"What is it Sloane?"

"Look's like the problem found us."

Julius stopped mid-sentence and stood up.

"What are you saying?"

"Claire, Ray's new woman is over there. So you know what that means"

That's all she had time to say. Sloane looked up to see Ray falling from the sky, sword in hand, with flames of vengeance burning in his eyes.


	7. 5 Diamonds Chapter 7

There was a moment during Ray's freefall where the entire planet seemed to freeze in time. Below him, the citizens of Mars were enjoying this day like any other. Little did they know of the carnage that was about to take place.

The four people he once held closest to him were a mere feet away; his goal was within reach. All four of them were facing him now. He wondered for a split second if they were prepared at all for the that was about to happen. Sloane had already jumped towards him ahead of the others; who hadn't even drawn their weapons. Gabriel was turning to Jayzmyne, who was reaching for her swords. She looked very surprised. Ray would have never guessed the expression etched across Julius' face, he looked absolutely terrified.

Sloane attacked immediately with her clawed hands. When Ray blocked her hand with his shining, white blade sparks rained down below. He parried that blow, and two more before pushing his way past her; he wanted Julius. The moment he passed her Ray was met by "Fire and Ice", Jayzmyne's famed short swords. He narrowly dodged the ice, sent the fire in another direction. When he regained his focus, Julius hadn't moved an inch. The other two were gone. Perfect.

"JULIUS!!!!"

Ray brought his sword down with all his momentum from the fall. Claire was sure the sound of the steel clashing could be heard on the other side of the city. Ray's white blade was stuck in the teeth of Julius' famous sword, Dents de Requins, Shark Teeth. He could literally feel the hatred in Ray's eyes as he stared into his between their katanas.

"Where is she Julius?!" Ray screamed.

Julius smiled. "Hmph. Over two years and you start with questions. No respect!"

With a swift movement he released Ray only to knee him in his chest, and vanished. Ray picked his head up in time to barely dodge Gabriel's trident; not without grazing his cheek. Gabriel jumped into the air and before Ray could even turn his head Jayzmyne appeared with her elements in hand. He ducked under a slice and blocked a few more before they came to a clash.

"I'm glad your making the first time I'm seeing you the last Hikari. Your making this too easy for us."

"That's funny. I was just thinking the same thing."

"Then you really are as stupid as I thought."

Jayzmyne parried and jumped backward, throwing Ice at Ray in the process. Behind her, fired five shots that rang off like grenades. Ray once more knocked away the swirling, blue sword only to be hit by three of Sloane's bullets. He could feel two of his ribs break as one passed through his abdomen. She also got him in his shoulder and thigh. The pain was tremendous. Ray dropped down to one knee and glaring at Sloane; who returned with an ice cold stare.

This was the same strategy they used the first time. It was a plan of attacking their Master had taught them, and Julius perfected. And it was simple enough, attacking separately and together simultaneously. When Julius decided to use to while he was in charge, he made it so only the one attacking was visible to the target at all times instead of one all out attack. This way, the combinations were nearly endless, it terribly scared the opponent, and with the right assassins was nearly indefensible. Unless, you're an assassin of their skill level.

Ray began to notice how quiet it was around him. He could only hear the water from the fountain and the far off city noises apart from his own breathing, and wondered if it was from blood loss. Sloane stood motionlessly; watching.

"This isn't going to work you know. I knew what you were doing the first time, I was just in too much shock to react properly. I nearly stopped you all last time. The same strategy won't work twice, you have to know that. You know if this keeps up, I will kill you all right here." Ray grinned as he staggered back to his feet.

"Those are strong words for someone getting up from their knees."

"There she is! Are you ready to talk to me now?" Ray exclaimed genuinely shocked.

"There's nothing to say. Spare me your sorry ass apologies."

"I never said I wanted to apologize Sloane. I want to _talk."_

_"_There's nothing to talk about Ray! You just need to disappear!" She screamed.

"What if I told you I still loved you?"

Her eyes widened from his words, and at that very moment, Julius silently appeared behind Ray; his sword poised for attack. Ray spun around in an instant and blocked his attack, dodged his next one, and followed up with his own. Julius jumped back and Ice landed between them. Jayzmyne landed atop her short sword and jumped towards him; Fire in hand. She swung and Ray dodged effortlessly and grabbed her arm. Jayzmyne let out a terrible scream as Ray pierced her stomach with his blade. She grabbed his coat with her free hand and pulled her face next to his. Jayzmyne whispered is her most sinister voice:

"I fucking hate you...So much..."

Ray smiled as he slowly removed his blade, she spit blood on his face. He slammed her body as hard as he could. Her body was light and her bones snapped on impact, she could hear them. Jayzmyne coughed up blood on the ground next to her head as Ray walked over to his quarry; listening carefully her his other prey. They were due for an appearance. He stood over her and spun is sword around and held in over her heart.

"The sentiment is the same. And this is where it ends." Ray uttered the words in his coldest voice.

Jayzmyne watched, her body paralyzed from Ray's blow, helpless to move or defend herself. She could see the fury in his eyes as he stared down at her. He brought his blade down and it met with the shaft of Gabriel's trident. Ray flipped back away from them. Midway he saw Sloane rushing towards him with her claws bared. She attacked before he could land on the ground. Ray guarded and she retaliated swinging a clawed hand at his head. He vanished, she missed, and the car behind them with cut to pieces and exploded from her attack. Ray landed atop a food truck parked across from where she was standing. He looked to where Jayzmyne and Gabriel were and they were gone. However, there was twice as much blood on the ground than before. Ray turned back to Sloane. Gone. With no warning Julius fell from above with another silent assault, Ray barely dodged this time; watching his blade past inches away from his face. They exchanged a vicious exchange of attacks. Flashes of steel and bodies appearing and disappearing again was all that could be seen to an untrained eye. A strike couldn't be landed between them. Suddenly, Sloane appeared behind Ray and Julius guided him in her path. She went for his head and he dodged as if he had eyes behind him. In one fluid motion he dodged her next attack and shot at an escaping Julius, grazing his face twice and hitting his dominant shoulder. Sloane continued her assault. Ray swung his sword at her and she grabbed it with one hand.

"NOW I'LL TAKE YOUR HEART!" She roared.

Sloane thrusted her other clawed hand and went straight into Ray's chest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruno stared expressionlessly out the window of his airship as it passed silently through space. They were about to enter the atmosphere of his destination, Pluto, when his PPC started to vibrate next to him. He lifted up his sunglasses and looked at it. The caller was unknown. Bruno's first thought was to ignore it, then he suddenly realized who it probably was. So he put it on the screen in front of him.

It wasn't who he expected. Instead of the leader of all assassins, instead he was met by a blonde haired woman with electric yellow eyes. Her wavy hair was covered at the top by at jet black bandana tied around her head. It matched perfectly with her blouse of the same color and her coat the same; trimmed in the same electric yellow as her eyes.

Having caught his attention he sat up in his chair. He was grinning and didn't realize it.

"Bruno Krona. You are en route to meet with the King of Stars correct?" She spoke in a very professional voice.

"And who would like to know that?" He replied through a smile.

"I'm calling you on his behalf."

"The King has painfully beautiful women like you making his calls for him?"

"I'm not his fucking secretary if that's what your implying." Her elegant tone disappeared.

"Unless you tell me who you are …" Bruno teased.

"I had heard you were an asshole."

"Really? From who?" Bruno was notorious for flirting with most of the women he met.

"My partner. We are...emissary's, of sorts, for the King."

His brows came together above his sunglasses. He had never heard of a duo working for the King directly. This worried him.

"Right. So are you coming to kill me? I might like that."

She let out a dry laugh. Bruno's flirting was starting to annoy her.

"Your appointment with the King has been canceled. A matter has come up the requires his immediate attention."

"He went through all this trouble to get me here to cancel? I'm about to enter Pluto's airspace."

"Sorry? I'm relaying a message. If it make's you feel any better, it's more-or-less your fault."

"And how is this my fault sweetheart?"

She rolled her eyes before replying. "Ray Hikari is currently engaged with his former team on Mars."

"His former- He's taking on all four of them alone?!"

"Yes. And according to my intel, you were the one who set this chain of events into motion by telling Sloane Solera that Ray Hikari was on Earth in Starlight City. Correct?"

Bruno grinned. He needed to know if that information had gotten out. Now he needed to find out how.

"I had no own intentions, I had no idea I was playing into the King's hand."

"Hmph. Don't be so smug. This has actually become quite the nuisance for us. The King will contact you when this situation is back under control. So we'll be in touch. In the meantime he says, "Keep the sails steady. There's a storm coming." Goodbye Bruno Krona."

The screen vanished from in front of him and Bruno sat back in his chair. He sighed and looked out the window. Now he was in Pluto's atmosphere over the city of Phrost. It was nighttime. The city lights shown brightly off of Pluto's snow-covered landscape. He reached into his coat and pulled out a vial of orange and neon-red Gaia. He pulled the cap off with his teeth and drank the whole thing down in one shot.

"I guess I should try and make this trip productive." He muttered; annoyed. "She didn't even tell me her name."

A moment later he got a message on his PPC from an unknown number. It simply read, "You can call me The Messenger".

He grinned and stood up to get ready to disembark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Claire was one of the last bystanders at the fountain almost 30 minutes into the fray aside from a few people recording the events on their PPC's. She had done almost three laps around the statue to gain a better vantage point while staying out of harms way like she promised. With things looking how they were, she didn't want to distract Ray and subsequently get him hurt.

She made it to her new vantage point just in time to Sloane suddenly appear and dig her claw into Ray's chest. His clutch on her wrist was the only thing stopping her from tearing his heart from his chest. Sloane could feel every panicked beat of his heart inches away from the palm of her hand. Julius watched closely from the arm of the war god.

Ray could see tears welling up in Sloane's eyes. He could feel the muscles in her wrist struggle to close her hand around one of his most vital organs. Ironic almost, he couldn't help but think. Ray felt he deserved to die this way, and this was the second time she attempted this same thing; etched into his skin still were the scars from the last assault. He knew he was solely responsible his eyes witnessed once more one of his most hated sights, tears rolling down Sloane's face.

"Let me go! I promise I'll take it as slow as I can." She growled through her tears.

"If I feel even a twitch, I'll snap your arm in two." He warned.

Sloane smirked and Ray reflected her expression.

"Your bluffing. If you were going to hurt me you would have killed me on Earth. You can't kill me? Can you?" Her voice was almost seductive.

"I could see why you would think that sweetheart, and you might be right. I don't think I could bring myself to end your life. But I will _definitely_ hurt you."

Ray closed his fist, crushing Sloane's forearm in the process. Before she could react to the horrific pain in her arm he pulled her bloody claw from his body. Sloane released his sword, and Ray went to strike, and was stopped by Gabriel's trident falling from the sky. Sloane dropped to her knees clutching the shoulder of her crushed arm; blood dripping from her fingertips. Gabriel appeared next to his trident and picked it up as he kneeled down next to her.

"That looks like it hurts." He jested.

"Shut up!" She screamed in agony. It was the most pain she had felt in years. Opponents seldomly landed attacks; let alone one of this magnitude.

"Well at least he didn't ruin your tattoos."

Sloane couldn't help but grin and glace down at her forearm. Hidden amongst all the artwork, up and down, Ray Hikari; thirteen times.

"No...He would never do that to me..."

Gabriel cold hear Ray coughing up blood a few feet away. He was clutching the wound on his chest. Blood ran down his hand, his arm, and his mouth. Sloane's attack had done more damage than he thought. Ray noticed he couldn't hear the rushing water from the fountain anymore. He looked up and he could see Gabriel stand up and start making his way toward him through blurry eyes. Ray was losing too much blood. Claire watched from the other side of the fountain in horror; her skin was as white as snow. It was all she could to do to not call out to him.

Julius pulled his PPC from his coat pocket. Unknown number. He answered. A woman's voice rang in his ear. She spoke very eloquently; like a secretary.

"Julius Silver?"

"Yes. To whom do I owe the pleasure?" Julius watched Gabriel slowly make his way over to a severely injured Ray.

"I'm calling you on behalf of the King of Stars. He says, and I quote, "Ray will accomplish his mission is you don't retreat immediately.""

Julius was silent for a moment. He almost didn't know how to respond.

"And what make's him so sure of that? One of ours is about to deliver the killing blow now."

She sighed; frustrated. This couldn't be simple like she'd hoped. Julius didn't seem as reasonable as she was told.

"Yes. We know." The Messenger said trying to keep her patience. "Listen I'll cut the bullshit. He told me about on your last Contract on Titan. 127 dead in 13 minutes. And he almost killed all of you in the process. Speaking of, Gabriel is probably the most familiar of all of you of Ray's...let's say abilities. That's what about to happen to you. Make your choice."

Julius' eyes widened as the Messenger disconnected. Gabriel was already standing in front of Ray.

"You look like shit." Gabriel said looking down on his old friend. He almost pitied him at this moment.

"Where's Jayzmyne? Did I kill her? I was trying to." Ray taunted.

"You do realize that your pretty much dead now, don't you? This is over. You tried. But you would have been far better of taking us out individually. Then, you may have actually pulled it off."

Ray started to laugh but was interrupted by a haggard cough and more blood as he pulled himself to his feet.

"Looks like Sloane got your lung. I'm amazed your still coherent let alone standing. Your truly a monster, Ray Hikari."

"Right. And like monsters do I'm going to destroy everything." He was smiling with blood dripping from his chin.

"Your in no position to say that. And no condition to fight anymore. I have more respect for you than to kill you now. However..." Gabriel started to spin his trident at his side.

"Do your worst Gabriel. You deserve revenge." He conceded.

"As much as you do Ray..."

"No...I deserve it way more than you. I think you all know that..."

Ray looked up, his right pupil had totally morphed into a five point star, and glowed a bright white.

"And that's _exactly _why I'm going to kill you!"

Julius jumped off the statue towards them, sword in hand.

"GABRIEL GET OUT OF THERE!!!"

It was already too late. Before Gabriel could move from his position, Ray slashed his chest wide open. Blood sprayed high into the air. Ray went to deliver to final strike to his former ally and Julius appeared blocking Ray's attack. A vicious onslaught ensued by Ray and Julius was held on the defensive. Gabriel collapsed in a heap on the ground. The pool in the fountain was stained by the spray of blood. Sloane looked on in horror. She had seen Ray like this a few times. And every time he left a pile of corpses in his wake. A familiar chill ran deep through her body.

Ray swung his sword and an arc of what looked like pure white light hurled toward Julius, who had returned to his perch on the bicep of Apollo. The light sliced through the stone like a scalpel to flesh and fell with a huge splash into the fountain. The resulting sound snapped Sloane out of her daze and she gathered Gabriel from where he lay bleeding while Julius continued to fend off Ray.

"Julius! Gabriel will die if I don't get him out of here right now! He's bleeding way too much!"

Sloane had managed to get Gabriel onto her back with her good arm; Now blood flowed from his body all over her.

He appeared in front of her a moment later. He seemed to had gotten away from Ray's relentless attack.

"Then do it! I'll join up with you once I take care of this!" Sloane had never seen Julius more frantic.

"If you try to beat him now he will kill you Julius! You HAVE to know that!! Come with me this is over!" She pleaded.

"Just go Sloane! I'll handle this."

Ray appeared in the pool of the fountain. He was walking slowly towards them leaving a trail of his blood in the water. Even though he was fueled entirely by rage at this point, his body was beginning to quit on him. His sword glowed like a blade of light in his hand. The star that was now his eye shone even brighter.

"Your fucking stupid! Your going to die trying to settle a stupid vendetta over that fucking bitch!" She screamed.

He suddenly stopped his advance and faded from sight again.

"SLOANE JUST LEAVE NOW!!!" He bellowed

She snarled, cursing his name, and finally obeyed his order. The moment she did Ray appeared in front of him, sword raised for an attack. Julius barely raised his weapon in time to parry. When the tip of the sword touched the ground, and explosion comparable to a land mine went off. Julius jumped high into the air out of the dust cloud to get a better vantage point. He was the smoke part Ray's vicinity. Julius was high enough that he couldn't see his face, just his glowing eye shining below him like a star. As he raised his sword to position himself for an attack Ray appeared directly in front in mid-air once again ready to attack.

"_This speed! How is it even possible?!?"_

In one swift thrust Ray ran his sword through Julius' abdomen and they both plummeted back to the planet. Julius slammed into the ground with the blade of light still piercing his body. Ray landed on top of him, pinning Julius to the ground with his sword; his hand never left it's hilt. Julius spewed blood on the ground next to him. One of his organs was cut; he could still feel Ray's blade on it. Too dangerous to move. Even if he could, Ray had one of his feet firmly planted on his sword. Defenseless, Julius watched his rival kneel down close to him. He couldn't look away from his shining star.

"Where..is Maria?" Ray's voice was artic.

Julius' eyes widened in shock then he managed a laugh..

"So your not the mindless monster I've always thought. Your coherent...Interesting..."

Ray twisted his sword and Julius howled in pain only to be stopped by his mouth filling with more blood. He opened his eyes to the barrel of Ray's pistol only a few inches from his face. Ray slowly pulled the hammer back as he spoke.

"Last chance..."

Julius was still able to flash his smug grin with blood running from the corner of his mouth.

"Do it."

End Chapter 6


	8. 5 Diamonds Chapter 8

Julius Silver arrived at "The Star Room Orphanage" when he was merely three years of age, only a few months before Ray did, and under the same mysterious circumstances. He taught himself how to read and write. Before they were adopted at age 12, his knowledge equated a Master's degree college student in several fields. Even now, he spent most of his free time reading and researching. And it was because of this he was used to being right about most things. Julius had a terrible feeling before he left for Mars. As he watched Ray squeeze the trigger, the hammer slowly pull back, he wished this one time he was wrong.

A booming shot rang off, and Ray suddenly screamed in agony. His body convulsed for a moment and he collapsed in a heap. Julius nervously turned to the bullet hole inches away from his head. Several shining yellow lightning bolts stick out of Ray's back as he lay motionless on the ground. Julius could hear the approaching footsteps of someone. He could hear the familiar clicking of heels on the ground, definitely a woman. With Ray's sword still pinning him to the ground (which had lost all of it's brilliant glow) he couldn't make any sudden moves.

"You know, I said we should just let him kill you all. It certainly would have saved ME a ton of trouble, at least." He heard a woman say; he recognized the voice.

Julius slowly and cautiously lifted his head. A blonde haired woman was standing over Ray's body with a look of absolute pity. Dressed in all black trimmed in electric yellow, her coat bore the emblem of the King of Stars on it's back in the same trim; the Earth's crescent moon with a slash going through it. Julius' head dropped back to the ground. She was the Messenger.

"If you had taken any longer, he would have." Julius muttered through quick breaths. "When you called you could have said you were nearby."

"Why would I have done that?" She said with a giggle. "I was watching. It was interesting. I think I stepped in at the appropriate time."

Julius couldn't help but laugh even though he was in blinding pain. He somehow wasn't surprised by her reasoning.

"Right. I probably would have sat back and watched this shit show too."

"Yes. It was riveting from the very beginning. Ray was absolutely fantastic for awhile. Every bit of what I heard. I can see why he's the King's favorite..." Her voice trailed off; she was clearly getting lost in her own thoughts.

She turned away from Ray and walked over to Julius. She stood over him inspecting his injuries, admiring Ray's sword. He could feel his body tense up; making his wound more unbearable. She ran her black, gloved fingertip along the slide of blade.

"This was my favorite part...I didn't even see him move." She whispered admiringly. "Really looks painful. I'm honestly surprised your still conscious."

"If you don't pull it out I'm going to bleed out. Just get it over with."

"You can't do it yourself?" She teased.

"Not without killing myself. Please...This is quite unbearable." He pleaded.

"Well...Since your begging."

The Messenger grinned and quickly pulled Ray's sword from his body and Julius howled in pain. She woman stepped on his chest so he would keep still and poured a white powder on his stab wound. Julius writhed in pain for a few moments more until he finally stopped and slowly sat up. She was a few feet away taking a closer look at the sword that held him prisoner.

"Geez...I don't remember the last time I've been injured like that." Julius mumbled massaging his throbbing wound. Clotting Powder, sealed almost any wound in moments and stopped bleeding. However it was only a temporary fix.

"Your probably still going to need a Body Weaver. I basically cauterized your wound so you don't bleed out before you get to where your going."

"I know what it does. I created it when I was a teenager. Thank you. I owe you a favor."

She looked up at him and grinned.

"A favor from you? That can be a useful thing. I will not forget that, Julius Silver."

"I wouldn't expect you to."

The Messenger parted her lips to speak again but was interrupted by Claire's screaming few feet behind her.

"Ray! Open your eyes! Open your eyes! Ray!" She exclaimed as she shook his lifeless body.

"I forgot that woman was still here..." Julius muttered. "Wait! Where are you going?!"

The Messenger made her way back over to Ray, sword in hand. She was only a few feet away when the clicking of her heels finally gained Claire's attention. She moved between them and out stretched her arms to guard him from her.

"Stay away from him! He can't fight anymore!"

The blonde stared at her with her for a moment in silence; taking in the scene, Claire looked resolute in her decision. She found it almost amusing.

"I wasn't given any orders on what to do with you...What to do..." The Messenger pondered.

"You could turn around and walk away. I'm not threat to you and neither is he. This is over. Please just leave him alone you don't have to kill him." Claire pleaded.

"If I wanted to kill him he would be dead, love. Why did you travel to Mars with him? Surely you knew of the danger after your home was destroyed." The Messenger twirled the blade in her hand as she talked. "You could lose your life at any moment..."

Claire's eyes couldn't help but move back and forth from the woman to Ray's weapon. She was scared and it was clear, but her arms didn't waver. If she was going to die it was going to be protecting Ray.

"I came...to help him. That's all."

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "But your not one of us...What could you possibly do to help a man like him? Hmm?"

Claire nervously glared at the woman in front of her searching for a way to answer; hoping the truth wouldn't get her killed.

"Could you watch the person you love kill themselves without trying to help? I know you're a cold-blooded killer but I imagine there's someone you care about the much."

"A "cold-blooded killer"? What do you think _he _is? Do you have any idea of what he really is? What he's capable of? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. But just going by what you've witnessed so far, you have to realize he's a monster. Despite what you feel, there's no way someone like you can tame him."

Claire laughed nervously before saying,

"Then maybe I'll try and sing him a song."

The Messenger stared at Claire for a moment before laughing herself. She spun Ray's sword around with one flick of her wrist and stuck the sword in the ground between them.

"Please, remind me of your name again."

"Claire. Claire Wilde." She said tentatively.

The Messenger's eyes widened and a grin crept across her face. She suddenly looked excited.

"Luna. Luna Nyght. It's been a pleasure, love. You have a spark in you. Perhaps it'll keep you alive."

She gave a half-hearted wave and walked back over to Julius, who had patiently waited for the scene to play out. Luna stopped in front stopped in front of him and yawned as she looked through her PPC.

"What was that about?..." Julius asked staring past her at Claire; who was still trying to wake an unconscious Ray.

"You know...Girl talk...None of your business." Luna looked up. "Why are you still here?"

"I have questions. Quite a few actually. Wh-" He stopped when she raised her hand to interrupt him.

"I have no answers. That's not what I'm here for. I was sent by the King to make sure you didn't kill each other and to make sure Ray didn't run amok. Again. Not to satisfy your curiosity."

Julius glared at her in silence for a moment, choosing his words carefully.

"Am I to assume the King will continue to interfere with our vendetta? He's clearly interested if he needs us alive." He flashed his signature cocky grin.

Luna sighed. She wanted him to leave her alone.

"He will if it interferes with our agenda."

"So he needs us for something?"

"You clearly don't know what your getting yourself into by dealing with Ray Hikari while in that state. The King knows that. By sending me here, he was doing you a favor. That's all I have to say. Now, I can't leave until you do." Luna was starting to get impatient.

"Why?"

"I'm to make sure Ray Hikari leaves here alive. And destroy those who try and prevent that. Now are you going to make me destroy you love?" She asked taking a step forward.

Julius laughed. "I'm in no condition to fight you. So I'll leave. But the King of Lumiere should know that I'm a bit more informed than he thinks."

"But nearly as much as you think. Goodbye Julius Silver. And remember, there's no place Lumiere doesn't shine." Luna said ominously; with a smile

"Of course." Julius smiled back and gave a slight bow before fading away. Luna turned a gave one last look at Claire and the injured Ray before disappearing herself; finally completing her assignment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bruno never liked to spend a lot of time on Pluto. It was bitterly cold on the planet most of the time, weather he didn't particularly enjoy. Most of the world's inhabitants were either born there, wealthy enough to live on the secluded tundra where they couldn't be bothered. Some on business. It was also a place assassins came to lay low and lick their wounds, work on their next scheme. People with naturally silver hair and eyes call this place home.

As he walked the streets of Phrost he began to remember one of the only reasons he did like coming to Pluto. It was arguably the most beautiful planet in the solar system. Snow touched everything the eye could see. It hushed any and every sound. And the sun reflecting off the ice covered skyscrapers made the metropolis seem as if it was made of diamonds.

If the King of the Stars actually intended on meeting Bruno in person, he had no doubt he was gone by now. Any emissary he would have sent wouldn't be, compared to the King, worth talking to. And Julius, the only person that WAS worth speaking to on this planet, was on Mars.

As Bruno walked down the street amongst the other citizens on Phrost, he could feel someone watching him from the other side. The gaze lacked the ominous bloodlust he was accustomed to. He looked through his sunglasses to see the culprit. A strikingly beautiful woman stood directly across from him on the pavement. Her wavy, brown hair was icy from the snow. She had been walking around for awhile. Bruno couldn't stop looking at her stocking covered legs. The black, floral-fishnet design was captivating. The contrast between her pale skin was perfect. He had stopped walking completely without even realizing it. Now she was walking across the street towards him.

Maria stopped in front of him. Her stare was searching, trying to remember. Bruno waited; expressionlessly. As she drew closer to him, he realized exactly who she was. Maria tiled her head slightly to the side.

"I know you." She said finally.

"Are you sure about that sweetheart?" Bruno said reaching into his pocket for a cigarette.

"Yes. I'm even more certain now that I've heard you talk. Don't call me anything that's not my name please. Your one of Julius' friends aren't you?" She looked over his attire for emblems or sigils as she spoke.

"I don't know if "friends" is the right word." Bruno muttered.

"Either way, I've seen you at our house before. More than once. You two know each other."She pointed behind her to the behemoth Julius built into the side of the mountain just outside the city."Your Bruno Krona. "The Man That Owns The Galaxy." Right?"

Bruno couldn't help but grin. Although the he thought the nickname was silly, he couldn't help but laugh at how accurate it was. He had his hands in every illegal business in the Milky Way.

"Well I'm not surprised I've left an impression on you. What's Julius' princess doing so far away from the castle? Did you walk all the way down here?" He teased.

"I'm not his fucking princess. And yes, I did walk down here. It's not like I have much else to do."

"You could have drove. Stayed out of this weather."

Maria scoffed. "I'm fine. I'm just going to one of Julius' labs. I'm looking for something."

His eyebrows rose slightly.

"Here? In the city?"

"Yes." Maria thought for a moment. "Actually, you might be able to help me with something. Do you know anything about something called "Royal Flush?""

Bruno was silent for a moment. "I've never heard of it. Besides poker of course. Is it at the lab?"

"That's what I'm going to find out. I'm looking for someone. I think...whatever this is might help me with that."

Bruno was quiet as he smoked his cigarette looking around the city for anything that stood out. It would make sense for Julius to have a lab on Phrost; it was the first place Bruno looked initially. Neither he or the best members of his team could locate any trace of it.

"Where is this lab your heading to?"

"I don't need an escort." Maria said flatly.

"And I'm not offering to be one. But I think I can help you find what your looking for. Save you the trip."

Maria's eyebrows slowly rose as she put together his meaning.

"The place that monitors the weather core." She said without hesitation.

Bruno grinned. It was genius. Now to cause Julius some inconvenience for foiling his plans on Saturn.

"Did Julius tell you where he was going?" Bruno asked.

"To Mars. To meet with the other members of 5 Diamonds. At least that's what he said he was going to do."

"You didn't believe him?"

"It's not that...He just said he had a bad feeling about the trip, so he didn't take me." Maria said reflecting on the events before he left. "Julius usually takes me everywhere with him; whether I want to or not. It was just weird."

"Hmm...Well he wasn't lying. He is meeting his former team. The first time all five diamonds have been together in years."

Maria could feel her pulse quicken. Her entire body felt like it suddenly caught fire. Bruno watched her hazel-brown eyes widen and fill with tears from behind his sunglasses.

"Please don't lie to me...Do you mean..." Maria almost whispered his words shocked her so.

"I had a meeting with an associate, that's why I'm all the way out here on Pluto. However they cancelled our arrangement because of what's going down on Mars. If Julius did go to Mars to meet with them, I don't think Ray Hikari attacking them was apart of his plan."

Maria could feel the warm tears begin to stream down her face. She couldn't speak, only form one thought.

"_He's alive..."_

Bruno flashed a toothy grin as he watched reality settle in on Maria. He felt like he did a good thing.

"It was nice to see you Maria. Give Julius my regards when he returns." Bruno said with a nod.

He continued walking in the direction Maria was going. He pulled out his PPC and put it to his ear.

"Phoenix. Is Noir with you? Good. I need you two to come to Pluto immediately."

When Maria snapped out of her trance Bruno was long gone; his footprints already covered in fresh snow. She looked up at her home. It was time for Julius to come back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sloane stepped out of the Body Weaver and immediately inspected her injured arm. She flexed her hand to work out the numbness and started to get dressed.

Jayzmyne had four Body Weavers in her home for situations like this; even though they seldom occurred. Sloane glanced across the room to see Gabriel still floating in the glowing fluid. She could see into his torso from the wound he obtained from Ray. It was going to take some time for even a Body Weaver to fix it. Something else caught her eye.

Sloane walked over to the machine to get a closer look at his wound. There was a faint white glow around it's edges; similar to light Ray's weapon gave off.

The sound of someone yelling in another room diverted her attention. She pulled her shirt over her head and walked out into the living room.

"That's bullshit Julius! I don't care if it was the King himself! You should have put them both in the ground!" Jayzmyne screamed.

Sloane entered the room to find Julius, Jayzmyne, and Robyn sitting around the table in the living room. Both of them had already healed from their respective injuries. The three of them all turned to her when as she walked straight to the kitchen.

"Sloane. It's good to see your finally awake." Julius said in a sarcastic tone.

She didn't even look at Julius. Instead she looked out the window. The sun was rising. She slept almost 24 hours straight in the Body Weaver.

"I'm surprised you didn't get killed settling your score." She replied in the same non-chalant voice.

"I was assisted. Unfortunately though, Ray isn't dead either. The King doesn't want him dead yet apparently."

Sloane stopped pouring her drink

"By who? Who helped you?" She demanded.

Jayzmyne audibly sighed and rolled her eyes.

"During the fray I got a call from someone close to the King. I was instructed to abandon the fight. Right after you left with Gabriel and when things got a bit close for me, the woman showed up and was able to finally subdue Ray with a fierce electric shock." He explained.

"But who was this woman? And since when has the King been concerned with us?" Sloane was growing impatient.

"I managed to find out her name is Luna Nyght. She works very close to the King with a partner. No one knows he is. In fact, no one seems to know anything about them. Just rumors and hearsay. The only reason I was able to get her name is because I was able to describe her to someone. But apparently she's strong. As for the King, like I told Jayz here, all of us still hold places in his "kingdom". Technically, we are always his concern. All ranked members of Lumiere are. And our group consist of some of it's highest."

"That still doesn't explain anything. Why personally interfere with our fight? What stake does he have in it?"

"I don't know Sloane. The call came right before Ray...woke up. Whatever stake he has, he knows something about that."

Silence fell over them as they all let the information sink in. The event brought up a lot of questions. Jayzmyne sat with her arms crossed, furious.

"I can't believe this. The King is watching us? Protecting him? None of this makes sense."

"I will get to the bottom of it. You don't have to worry about that." Julius was going through information on his PPC while he sat there.

"So, great leader, what's our next move?" Sloane said sarcastically.

"Nothing. We have explicit orders not to."

"And since when have we taken orders from _anyone?" _Jayzmyne exclaimed.

"Since I'm pretty sure the King will bring his full force down on us if we don't comply. None of us need that kind of attention. He clearly wants Ray alive for a reason. We simply have to find out. After that we can go finish this without worrying about putting targets on our backs."

Jayzmyne scoffed. "There's always been targets on our backs. I don't care what the King says. This is between US. We barely participate in anything he does. Considering us apart of his "kingdom" is a stretch. Ray almost killed Gabriel for the second time. I won't live in fear of anyone. I'm going to find him and kill him. Even if I have to do it alone."

Sloane stood silently in the kitchen, loading her injection gun. Robyn sat staring at the coffee table. She kept stealing glances at Julius. He wouldn't return them, much to her dismay.

"Jayzmyne I would suggest you reconsider that stance." Julius said with a sigh.

"Julius I don't give a fuck what you think. He was right there you rolled over like a coward for a leader we don't follow!"

Julius returned her glare. Before he found the words to reply his PPC vibrated in his hand. A picture of Maria appeared on the screen; her expression was somber.

"I have to take this."

He walked out onto the balcony looking back as he closed the door behind him. Sloane was watching closely with glowing eyes.

"Maria. Are you alright?"

"Where are you?" she asked pointedly.

"I'm still on Mars. My business is finished. I should be back on Pluto in a few days. Is there something wrong?"

"There is. We need to talk." Her tone was glacial.

Julius was silent for a moment. He could tell by the sound of her voice that she had found one of his skeletons.

"I'll be on the first thing leaving the city."

"Good."

Maria hung up her PPC and threw it across the room. It shattered into pieces and she let out a scream as loud as her body could muster.

Julius walked back into the living room. Sloane was still staring, watching his every breath. He could feel it.

"I have to go. I need to tend to some things. This trip has taken longer than expected." He fought to cover the panic in his voice while he spoke.

"So Maria is tugging on your leash?" she said with a smirk

Julius ignored her comment. "I think you should all leave the planet. Ray is undoubtedly still in the city, at the very least still on the planet. And as soon as he's able to, he will try to hunt us again."

Jayzmyne laughed. "I'll be counting on it."

Julius sighed and shook his head. "Contact me when Gabriel awakes. We'll move from there. I'll be in touch."

He crossed the room and exited the condo. He gave Robyn a passing glance as he walked out. Sloane exited the kitchen and sat down on the couch to put on her boots. Jayzmyne quickly sat down across from her.

"If your going to look for Ray I'm going with you."

"I'm low on Gaia. I'm going to find some more. Besides you heard what Julius said."

"And your just okay with this?!" Jayzmyne said incredulously.

"Of course not. But I agree with Julius. We don't need Lumiere bearing down on us while Ray is hunting us. And to that point, I'm positive Ray will find us when he's ready. He didn't seem to have too much trouble the first time."

"So what should I do?"

Sloane sat up and gave her a long, complacent look before saying, "We probably need Gabriel right? You should wait for him to wake up. I'm sure you the first person he's gonna wanna see anyway. And someone needs to fill him in one what's going on."

Sloane walked over to Jayzmyne and made her stand up. She was beyond frustrated.

"By the time I get back I'm sure something will have happened. Just relax and get ready for the next fight. I'll see you soon."

Sloane leaned over and kissed Jayzmyne on her forehead. She stopped before she walked out the door and turned to Robyn.

"Watch out for your sister for me. I'll be back before you know it."

Robyn watched her sister glare at the door. Jayzmyne's fist shook in anger.

"I'm going to end this while he's still in my city. Robyn I need you to do something for me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A familiar sound cut through the silence.

"Open your eyes." A woman's voice whispered softly.

It was the perfect symphony to his ears.

"Wake up baby...Your going to be late..."

Too good to be true. No matter where he turned, darkness still.

"Open your eyes!" she exclaimed one last time.

He heeded her command. His eyes focused on the hazel brown eyes staring back at him. Maria was sitting on his lap. Her body, her face, close to his. Ray could feel his heart stop when she smiled at him.

"There you are. I thought you were never going to wake up. Your going to be late for your briefing. I don't need Jayzmyne blaming me for it again..."

As he processed her words her turned and looked out the window. Neo-Aquaria, Neptune's capital city, was outside and they were high above it. He could see the through the crystal clear waters of Neptune straight the bottoms of it's seas. His mouth opened and he responded automatically, as if reading from a script.

"You worry too much about them. Her especially." His voice was monotone, still trying to understand what was happening.

Maria rolled her eyes and got up. He wanted to reach out for her to stay. His body wouldn't obey.

"Right. Just go do what you have to do so you can come back." There was sadness etched in her voice. She hated when he left her. Especially for Contracts.

"I won't be gone that long. It's just a briefing."

"Yeah..." she replied solemnly as she stared out the window; arms crossed.

He got up from the chair and walked over to her. Ray took her into his embrace and stared into her eyes.

"Maria...I'm going to leave this all behind soon...I promise you that."

"I know you will...I don't know what I'd do if you left me...Ray I...I just don't want you to get yourself killed...There has to be another way..."

He parted his lips to speak, and before his words left his mouth the door swung open.

"Ray I'm not going to keep coming to-"

Sloane stood in the doorway with wide eyes. He turned back to Maria. Darkness. He opened his eyes to a pure white ceiling with matching lights. The sunlight pouring through the window warmed his body under the blankets. His limbs felt like they weighed a ton each. He struggled through turning his head away from the light to find Claire sleep in the chair next to his bed; covered by his coat. Ray's vision was still blurry. It felt like he had a dagger stuck in his left eye. As he started to black out he could see a man in a white coat stop outside his room and take his chart off the wall. It was then he realized he was in a normal hospital and let the darkness take him once again.

~~~

"You know...I must have read every magazine in this hospital by now...If you take any longer I might have to go buy _another _book..." Claire muttered after a long sigh.

Her irritable complaint was the first voice he heard over the steady beats of hospital machines.

"There's worse things to suffer through than a book you know..." he replied with his eyes still closed.

"Yeah reading to- Your awake?!" Claire said dropping the magazine on the floor.

"So it would seem..." He said with a hint of regret in his voice.

He slowly sat up with the help of Claire. His body was still very heavy and it hurt to move anything. Ray was used to this level of pain. Claire watched him very closely as he looked around the room taking in his surroundings. He had only been in an actual hospital on a few other occasions. When he was still with 5 Diamonds, Julius took care of their injuries. It was also a service that Sanctuaries provided.

"Are we still on Mars?"

"Yeah. We're still in Helio City. Ray you've been sleeping for two days."

He gave her a long stare and sighed; rubbing his eyes and putting his head in his hands. Claire moved closer and put her hand on his thigh.

"What happened? How did I even get here?" he asked wearily.

"Well, what's the last thing you remember?"

He tried to focus. Fragments passed through his mind, but not a single clear picture.

"I remember getting to the fountain...I fought them...Sloane..."

He put his hand over his heart. His torso was wrapped in bandages. Sloane's claw in his chest, tears in her eyes were the last pieces he could put together.

"Are they dead? Did I kill them?"

"No...Well I don't think so. Everything was so hectic. And you were moving so fast. You hurt everyone pretty bad. The short one with red hair, you only hit her once and the other guy, Gabriel I think, carried her away. She was coughing up blood. He returned later on, but by then you had crushed Sloane's arm after she had it in your chest. She seemed to back off after that. You slashed Gabriel pretty badly...and she took him away. You fought Julius alone and by the end of it you impaled him."

His eye's widened with shock.

"And he survived that?"

She sighed looking away as she reflected on the events. Claire wanted to tell him about Luna and his rampage, but she felt he would do something reckless. He looked at her waiting anxiously for her answer.

"I'm sorry. Yes he did." She couldn't keep looking into his eyes while lying to him. "You injured Julius pretty badly. He had to retreat like everyone else. You tried to chase him but you passed out...So I brought you here. I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do."

Ray groaned in frustration as he lay back down in his hospital bed looking up at the ceiling.

"Thank you Claire. For helping me. You probably saved my life by bringing me here." He said finally.

She blushed. "What else was I supposed to do? Besides you saved my life. More than once already..."

"And you did the same by bringing me here. It's the perfect hiding place. I've never even considered it honestly... They would never look for me at a hospital."

Claire stared in confusion. Ray's expression didn't change. He was completely serious. "What?...Why?"

"Assassin's take care of their wounds themselves, in house, or at Sanctuaries. Never at hospitals. Assassin's consider hospitals to be apart of the "real world" so to speak. The one we don't interfere with unless commissioned to do so. It's mostly so we stay out of the public eye. One of the many ways the HUC stays out of our business and we don't bother the general public. More or less."

Ray couldn't help but think about all the collateral damage their fights usually cause. Even though Lumiere pays for the damages, he was sure it was a bother to the general public.

"Either way, Claire, I have to go. I can't stay here." he said firmly.

"You just said you were safe here. And your still injured!" she exclaimed pointing at his torso.

He gave her an annoyed look. "I'll stop by a Sanctuary and use a Body Weaver."

"They don't have those here?"

"No. Doctors are firmly against them. They're a product of assassins and cause as much harm as they do help." He said pulling the sensors off his body.

Ray slowly swung his legs over the edge of the bed and started to get dressed. Claire watched begrudgingly trying to find words to convince him to rest. She somehow knew her efforts would be futile. Her time with Ray wasn't long, but Claire knew already he was a stubborn man.

After leaving the hospital Claire got a car to take them to the Sanctuary even though Ray insisted he could walk. They sat in silence for sometime. Claire kept stealing glances at him while he staring out the window; obviously in deep thought.

She finally said "Ray...I know this might not mean anything to you. And I know you've suffered a lot...You still are. But I don't want to see you like that again, I...I thought you were dead..."

Ray could hear her voice starting to break. He knew then he couldn't look.

"Ray I...I just don't want you to get yourself killed...There has to be another way..."

He stared at the Apollo fountain in the distance. It's arm was still missing. Collateral damage. Her voice echoed with Maria's in his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruno was staring at his PPC when the knocking on his hotel room door broke his attention. He sauntered across the room. His body was heavy after he had taken more Gaia than he realized. Bruno opened the door to find a glowing pair of green eyes behind a pair of his sunglasses.

END


End file.
